Best of luck to the management and players.
Especially those new lads trying to impress and break into the panel
Not any easy job in January playing with lads you’ve never with before.
Fair play to Aiden , good experience to have on the pitch but expect to see him replaced at half time to give someone else a chance to impress.
Great to get the journey begin again

Great to see Andy and co. naming match day panels.
Getting another look at Seamus Howard is good. Great to see Finbar McLaughlin on panel, he's had a tough time with injury. Sligo will provide strong opposition for sure.

Jordan Flynn must have some engine.
When before did we see 2 goalies from the same club.
I know Robbie has moved on.

@Jr
John Healey and David Clarke night have been in the same match day panel in 2006 maybe?

JR David Clarke and John Healy

Best me to it just a thought, and Ciaran Naughton and Ruairi Beirne were vying for positions maybe both didn't together for county though

Great achievement for any club.

The game is today, Tom, and, no, the season ticket doesn’t cover it. It only covers league and championship.

A Mayo team with a lot of height. Plenty lads over six foot.
Really interested to see Adam Barrett and Kuba now that they're more fitness under their belt.
A lot of it is mental too. Can you keep calm and play with confidence at county level.
Seamus Howard looks a good rugged battler in the air. You'd naturally expect him to improve with more training time at this level.

Mile buíochas WJ and all on the blog for all the chats/information re streaming etc-go hiontach ar fad.
Athbliain faoi mhaise daoibh uilig.
Mhuigeo Abù

Not going today or streaming. The price hike for this is, truthfully, shameful. 15 euro for a development panel game in January. Ten euro to stream it.
It's ten euro to attend the pre season competition in ulster and only 28.65 for a competition ticket covering every game.
I like to attend every Mayo game but I'm sitting this one out. Looking forward to a good report as always WJ!

Kiltimagh game gone back to 1pm

Not the best first half here in Charlestown.

Struggling for pace on back foot and phyaicality. We also have a big goalkeeper problem. Too many balls given away and goo big a sacrafice for the potential 2 pt free bonus. Sligo learning not to foul.

Second half shouod be a struggle but would hope some younger lads can put their hands up and show they are worth a league panel spot.

What exactly is the goalkeeper problem going purely off this half of football? Bar maybe one ball Hennelly could have come for what else did he do wrong?

Kiltimagh 6 points down with 15 to go. Paul Kelly injured, nearly ten minutes to get a stretcher. Disgraceful. 9 points down now

Good to see Mayo coming good in last quarter, that was missing for a long long time.

Very good last 10 from mayo.

Strong finish 1-6 to no score but doesn't cover over the poor 50 minutes and where Sligo fully deserved their 1-11 to 0-11 lead.

Big goalkeeper problem - yeah he only kicked about 4 points. How many of the tight whisker games we lost the last few years (Dublin, Galway, Derry, Galway, Donegal) could we have won with a goalkeeper consistently kicking frees, and 2 point frees at that?

Swear to god some of ye would find some issue with winning the lotto.

It's the FBD - enjoy watching football matches and worry about them when they mean something (usually end of March)

Maybe it’s just me but… it’s only the 3rd day into the new year? We can’t expect these lads to be playing champagne football at this time of the year. They still won at the end of the day. Let’s see how they fare leading up to the resumption of the league (and throughout the league) and then we can determine where they are at.

Its only the FBD league and we have to be patient we wont be all Ireland contenders this year or next the fact that Andy has brought back a few of the older lads and also asked Evan Regan back shows we dont have ready made all stars available. Patience and hope for an improved championship and some form of attacking plan emerging

It's only FBD ..... we need to be patient. Sligo in fairness to them never stopped trying. It's going to be a long year if we are worried over performances in fbd.. !

It was great to see us come good in the last quarter

Positives to see Cathal Keaveney & Tom Lydon kick some lovely scores. Darragh Beirne also tried really hard and looks to be no pushover either at 19 he is a great prospect.

I'd take a good last quarter..

What was the final score

Early days…impossible to judge much on that. Our attack is still very laboured. Sligo more direct. We won’t know much until the championship starts.

Great to see so many new faces. Thats the main thing for me. Up Mayo.

Anyone at the game that could give an honest rundown on players subs and scorers etc.

On the basis of the first forty minutes, Andy won't have much of a problem trimming down the panel.

Our lack of physicality, ball-winning ability, and pace was shocking. We sent on two senior players and promptly shipped 1-2. Sligo so big, strong, pacy, toyed with us, but their shooting was terrible. Still, I'd say O'Hara & co were quite happy with that forty minutes.

Sligo probably withdrew players that weakened them, and we put on subs who strengthened our effort. I felt Liam Donoghue's arrival made a difference, and Cathal Keaveney was able to score from tight angles when well marked; how good is that! I certainly liked the look of him. Cian McHale again made an impact - he looks classy and can score. Dylan Thornton, I feel, will be a big player for us this year.

Good too to see Robbie back between the sticks - two out of three two pointers, and a massive save - not bad after a couple of years out.

TV game - I thought the camerawork was awful; violent turns that tore they eyes out, and an over reliance on flashbacks; they missed Darragh Beirne's goal chance.

Culmore.
By my count.
Robbie. 2x2pt frees
Dara B 3 points
Bob 1 two pointer
Ml Plunkett 1 point
Ryan 2 points, frees.
Keaveney 2 points
Enda. Goal.
Cian McHale 2 points. 1 free.
Tom Lydon 1 point

https://www.westernpeople.ie/sport/gaa/mayo-spoil-sligos-day-with-late-rally_arid-82781.html

Western report on match - with teams.

So....the final score... or do we have to pay for that? Sounds like a blowing off of cobwebs and probably much more. Well done lads and supporters. Great to be back!!

Final Whistle pod from Charlestown is up on Patreon now.

What did your last slave die of Mo-Direach?
The scoreline is there in the western people article if you don't mind the effort of clicking on it 😉

Big Aido play no part?

Some good. Some bad. Hard to judge really as at one point there was very little experience for Mayo on the field, and Sligo were fading when Andy emptied our young lads on to the pitch.
All in all we did what we had to, came from 5 down to win by 6, had 2 very good goal chances go abegging and most of the young lads impressed.
Slight concern would be how open we were in our middle third when Sligo ran at us, and our inability to close Lally down inside at full forward.
A good outing all the same.

Missing McBrien, McHugh, Durcan, Brickenden, Callinan, Morahan, Ruane, Flynn, Carney, Diarmuid O'Connor, Loftus, Towey, Boland, Conroy, Dawson, Darren McHale, Carr etc.....So which if any of the newbies are likely to displace which of these guys? If we're to improve some of them need to step up or we'll just be treading water. Personally I can only see one or two of Bierne, Lydon, Keaveney and Cian McHale. Not sure that any of the new backs or midfield options are yet ready to start come league or championship. Could be and hope I am wrong.

Id often be accused of being too postive but honestly happy out with performance for first timers and new team on cold day early January..
1 Hennelly, great 2 pointers but needs to speed up kick outs
2 Mcgreal, lovely player and tenacious
3 Golden , more a corner than fullback , dominant on ground but not as good in air.
4 Hession , showed seniority
5 Kelly , solid and decent
6 Plunkett , lovely ball player but center too open , but ideal competition for wing or corner back
7 Lynch , solid play
20 Tuohy , not unlocking his potential
9 O Malley , game a bit too fast on ground for him and didn't get going
10 Moran , pick of the team, solid and great distribution, good turnover and broke ball, better in midfield
11 Barrett, just not at peak but good pass
12 Howard , struggled to get into it
13 Beirne , not the same impact and will have Mchale, Keaveny and Lydon breathing down his neck after their subs cameos.
21 Ryan , if we get a 11 to interchange with him on regular basis , we will see best of Ryan, linking play and getting space whilst still providing cut anf thrust inside... Carr or Irwin at 11 who can interchange with Ryan, will see ryan play his best ball.
15 Kuba, tried hard somethings didn't come off but won't be knocked and kept going

Subs
Stand out subs had to be Cian Mchale, Keaveny and lydon .... all provided that scoring ability from nothing and the confidence and class . These three will be vying for no13
Liam O Donoughe done well too and showed of the new midfielders, he's equally as mobile and good on ball as any of them, should get start v Rossies .

All in positive and Andy so encouraging and good on the line .
Lads worked hard , some didn't get going but they will have another chance, others showed they will provide competition and just the four or so detailed they are ready to compete and look intercounty , fit and skillfully

Good points there JoeG on the 'senior' players. I was surprised McGreal was taken off so early, even though Sligo were very strong in the full forward line. McMonagle hasn't really been seen yet, so he's one to watch, ditto Hugh O'Loughlin. For the second game running Diarmuid Duffy, though he didn't seem to do an awful lot, impressed me with some intelligent plays.

One of the GOAT performances from Dingle there, incredible stirring stuff from them. Always good to see one of those Dublin superclubs (and their galaxy of transfers ousted).

Every other county has serious catching up to do with the kerry skillset under this new game, their skills are way ahead of everyone else. Some of the shooting under pressure there from geaney and TOS the likes of which we very rarely see in mayo

@JoeG

Yeah I would agree with that .
Cian McHale as others said to made an impact again like in the offally game when he came on.

Supermac - you are right we haven't players within an asses roar of the Kerry players skill set.
We miles behind that level - and anyone who thinks different are only fooling themselves

Think we all know kerry are way ahead of the rest of us .

We just need to concentrate on our guys. Connacht & a quarter final spot would be progress for us . As Lee keagan said we need to be realistic where we can get this season and be patient witb Andy. It's a rebuild job. Today was hairy at times but the last quarter was promising. Also fair play to Rob Hennelly for those 2 pointers .

Sure what would ye expect with only a sock filled with hay to play with for our poor souls growing up. Give them a bit of respect.

- Mayo maybe using the FBD to filter out the young/new lads that are not yet ready for Senior inter county. Easier to do it in the FBD than in the more critical league games.
- Pity Carr and McLoughlin were not 100% fit as would have been good for them to get time on the pitch.
- Fair play to both teams playing into the blinding Sun as it would cut the eyes out of your head...very good crowd in attendence.

On way home from a freezing Bekan, thankfully I'm a passenger so electric seats is the winner ..

Galway won easily, and few young lads showed well. London struggled, but i think they are aiming for a bigger push tomorrow.

Fair play to Sligo togging another 15 for tomorrow's game .. I think O Hara will get great worth from this weekend.

Tuamstar. Home from a freezing Bekan?......haha I've said the same after games in the middle of Summer.

Some of us are still drying out after Mayo v IT Sligo in Bekan in 2014 ...!++ Charlestown missed out that day. Always such a pleasure to go to a game in Charlestown. The grounds are an absolute credit to them. Mind you I still haven't got a call to tell me I won the lotto jackpot....

Outside of the Boot that's a good summary. I feel this year is make or break for Bob Tuohy and he got off to a a good start, but we're still not seeing enough from him unfortunately. Cian McHale is showing well so far off the bench as is Dylan Thornton (I really hope he gets an injury-free run because he is my great hope for midfield). Darragh Beirne is the real deal IMO and we neednto give him time. Nathan Moran impressed for the second week in a row. I really want to see a lot more from Kuba Callaghan - I'm worried that this level is too much for him but I sincerely hope I'm wrong about that, and that a year in with the panel will bring him on hugely.

As other have said it's 3rd January so impossible to read much into it. Midfield is a concern, but we are definitely playing a different brand of football, kicking the ball more and taking on shots we wouldn't have in recent years. This is the start of a complete rebuild, I feel, so I reckon we need to settle in for the long haul.

Trying different things around the middle is great to see. Also appears to want a creator from half forward dictating the tempo and there appears to be an emphasis on kicking direct ball into forward line if it is on. January or not, the play seems to be evolving away from the cautious approach of last year.

The main thing for me was the use of left footers, glorious, glorious left footers. It is a huge weapon if you can stretch accurate kickers across the arc.

In Andy's post match interview he alluded to Ryan spending time at chf but doesn't see him as his nailed on no.11,so will be interesting to see who else occupies that position...Diarmuid perhaps?
Also mentioned the vital importance of the 2pointers in the modern game so I'd say we'll be seeing an emphasis on those going forward.
Quite a departure from previous regime.