Well done Ryan-
A street dog amongst pets. How much better would he be if he was a part of a side who kicked the ball?
Aidan beside him in there, like going to McDonald’s and ordering a salad a complete waste of time if we won’t use them.

Voted for Mattie overall myself but no complaints.

Hard to believe it wasn't 100% as there was only one vote per patron.

Congrats Ryan o D well deserved .

He doesn't let himself get bullied around tbe place.
And you need to have that in gaa .

Mattie was also good but mattie can be so on /off sometimes but feel Ryan O D is more consistent in his performances.

Well done Ryan. Best player by a long shot. Started the league sluggishly but performed very well in most games. I was listening to The Football Pod earlier in the week and James o Donaghue ex Kerry top player was talking about Mayo. He suggested what they really lacked was quality. What he meant by that was the ability to take on your man, to be able to kick pass at distance, to be able to create time for yourself on the ball, to be able to play heads up football, to be able to take the ball at speed and a few more things. He observed that Mayo are a more “manufactured “ team, low risk and methodical. While some Mayo people might take the hump at such criticism I thought a lot of what he said was true. We need to take more risks and go for it more. He said that Ryan was the exception in the Mayo forward line. I think a lot of this is valid. The Mayo players are athletic, committed and give their best but we do lack players with the X factor, Tommy Conroy is another exception. When fully fit he can take on his man at pace and kick a score. The anti management brigade will no doubt say they are not being coached properly but it’s not really about coaching only. It is about natural talent, self belief and a willingness to go for it.

@ to win just once it's also about team selection and the strengths of the individual players.
We continually pick 2 or 3 midfielders in the half forward line with none of them noted kickpassers or playmaker.
In the hb line we go with Callinan Coen and Mc loughlin none of whom are comfortable kicking the ball.
Flynn was a good kick passer but it has been coached out of him.
Loftus and Boland are good kickers/playmakers but Conor is not involved and Boland is out of favour.
O Donoghue has it but is needed inside.
Aido and Irwin could be brilliant target men but we just won't kick the ball in because the players picked are very poor kickpassers and they are under instruction not to take chances.Its keep ball at all costs and it's hugely frustrating to watch.

All true lads, sadly. It's carry on regardless anyway, it seems.

Lads it’s not all doom and gloom , yes we have issues that could see is come up short against top sides but there is also the possibility of having diarmuid , paddy and Tommy back in time for cf if we make it , it’s a long shot all three will be flying but then again they might be and if so them three would make some considerable difference to weakness we have in areas . I’m just saying we still have possibilities to add

Well done ROD, fully deserved. On OTB today David Brady talked about the new rules and how it creates space for forwards to flourish. If ROD gets space he can be devastating. They are marking him heavy however, as Kerry did in the league final, so he'll need the players around him to help create that space for him to work in the Championship.

@InExile: It's the speed of transition (or lack of it) killing that space. Limited on what short runs from the surrounding lads can will do as long as we're so passive, careful & slow in progressing up the field & allowing other sides get set. It's noticeable how most of our best moments come from turning over their restarts, the one time we're advanced enough to attack before they're set.

A tactical fix for that rather than a player error or personnel selection one. Sadly it's one that needs time & encouraging on the training field to bring to the fore in games (look at the turnarounds in either Donegal or Monaghan over a single off-season) rather than a switch that can be flicked (why so many were terribly disappointed not to see it R1 through R3 of the league), so unlikely we'll see a serious moving of the needle there this year. We've pretty much set our pattern, so now time to hope we can maximise the results from it despite the limitations or frustrations the setup inherently has.

@TsuDhoNim - fair point but just two comments on that. If we started to be more dominant at mid field that would help and transitioning would also be helped by a more direct style. We can do it, we saw that in the Derry and 2nd half of the Armagh games, we lateral again against Kerry. It seems like in games when we are under pressure we throw off the shackles and it suits us better. Now you cant do that in every game, however I concede that.

Here's a question of the experts. Which is less energy sapping a high paced fast transition game which should me less passes or abut also less possession or a slow ponderous game with a lots of possession and many passes.