Very interesting team selection

Kerry named their team.
It’s not all that.
A big chance for us

After the job Fenton Kelly did on Ryan McHugh last week I'm amazed to see him dropped this week. Other than that the team is pretty much as expected.

Maybe it's a tactic to take a little pressure of Fenton. Maybe he will start at no2. He has the physicality and tenacity to play cornerback .
I do think we need a no2 with more bite and tighter man marking and be it kelly or Eoin O D I think either are worth a shot.
Really looking forward to this game it's big chance for us to go out and express ourselves.

We will do well at midfield , Jordan has been playing class just little refinement on shooting please.
Mchale and Neary should enjoy open spaces and hopefully continue their fine form .
Inside hopefully Frank and ROD have their shooting boots on and express themselves to the full of their potential .

I think it will be an impactful day for Eoghan Mac, croker suits him and be good to see him back to his best , be it starting or as impact sub.
We are missing a main man in halfbacks but maybe Diarmuid will have an impact from bench.i really do think the no6 role would suit Diarmuid.

Mayo win and be good for Mcstay as he has adjusted team and philosophy so ya be good to see him get credit.
I'm not saying I want him to stay forever but just saying full credit to him , he's adjusted and cut his cloth to suit so hopefully gets the best out of the lads .

Rochford interview seems a lot more positive on paddy and Tommy than the general talk .

I wonder will we be wearing our alternative Jersey on Sunday or whats tge story

What's the best kits for the colourblind crew WJ?

It is a shambles that we play Sligo the following Sunday.
The logistics alone of getting to Dublin and back will take its toll.
At least we have experience of it before, although a bad experience.
More difficult for lower division teams to cause an upset under the new rules, keeping 3 players forward.
Hope the pitch survived the Rugby.

We can’t both change, Bonni, as both of our alternate strips are shades of blue. One of us needs to switch and whichever of us does it’ll be fine.

@Jr Rugby is on tomorrow Saturday at 2.30

@Sean Burke

Is the Rochford interview anywhere online?

@Mind the House: https://x.com/radiomidwest/status/1905717026917863546

@,Sean Burke. If it's to be believed it's what we all want to hear. 2 massive men

@outside,.I agree Diarmuid could be very effective at 6. Rochford has thought outside the box on positions in the past so many he'll do it again. I disagree on Fenton though, he got turned over very easily numerous times in each games I've seen him play.bits good that he's gotten experience but this year is a year too early for championship football. I agree with you on the need for a tough corner back, they seem to have abandoned Eoin O'D again in favour of Coyne, disappointing.

On the topic of half backs, I think Callinan has been very poor so far this year. Can't understand how Eoghan Mc isn't starting ahead of him.

I really hope management find a way to rest Jordan over the next month. He’s gonna burn out otherwise

WJ. My son got me a pair of cheap colourblind glasses and I used them last weekend for the Louth / Meath game and I thought they were amazing. Meath appeared to be in what I thought was yellow and Louth in a dark blue. I didn’t care once I differentiate between them. I was very disappointed watching the U20s v Galway as they didn’t have the same effect. At the end of the day, we shouldn’t need them anyway. The GAA could make sure there’s no clash as in Rugby. I don’t know if they can cover it for everyone as I’ve no idea what other people see. When I put them on first and looked at the grass it was a much darker colour and I was wondering if this what other people see.

Listening to the Smaller Fish podcast this week. All of Aaron Kernan, Brendan Devenenny and Conor Sweeney completely writing Mayo off and fawning over Kerry. In fact a couple of them expecting Mayo to get hammered. They could be right but it boils my blood hearing it. God I hope Mayo stick it to Kerry Sunday

I personally would have to be paid to listen to anything with Colm Parkinson is voice would go through you. Plenty in the media have short memories. Just a few weeks ago Mayo beat Kerry.

Agreed lads, some of these self- appointed experts would turn your stomach alright. It's a one-off match with both fancying their chances. I'm hoping for a gutsy, injury free performance.

Agree also guys . Always the way we are always written off against the big teams but guess will always be the till we win Sam.

But sure it is what it Is...time we have a siege mentality now ...

We beat kerry in killarney when totally written off in 23..beat them a few weeks ago and were written off then to . I am glad we are written off tommorow cause that's when we put our best forward. .

I don't mind if we loose tomorrow a good performance and game time into players and croker experience and I'll be happy !

We did good to turn this around . Great to hear Rochford giving an update on Paddy & Tommy they will be a big boost when back.

We can put it up to kerry and I think it will be close tomorrow.

Will be there and looking forward to being back its a day out so enjoy it either way . I think there will be more of mayo crowd then kerry ..kerry don't travel well unless for the bigger games.

Imagine if Tommy and Paddy are back even for June. If we do happen to do well in championship wouldn't it so advantageous to have those two as summer subs.

This could be a styles makes fights type of game. They have significantly more scoring power than us. But we play our best when the game is open & Kerry like to play open football too. If we can dominate the midfield battle (which we should considering we'll start 5 or 6 midfielders), then we could starve them of ball. McHugh on Clifford could be fascinating. And of course Paudie Clifford needs to be shut down..he is the conductor. I would be fairly sure Enda Hession will be given the job & he has done well on him in recent times.

They are a better team than we are imo. I'd give them a better chance to win the All Ireland. But as a direct match up, I'd be confident we can beat them

We are afraid of our shadow when it comes to genuine confidence , I believe it is a serious deep rooted issue and because it comes from within the county , outsiders pick up on it and furthermore if we did win on Sunday we compound that issue by then agreeing with the forecasted narrative “it’s only the league “ mayo won’t back that up in championship. We are a damned if we do and damned if we don’t . Where as if Galway or Donegal were in our shoes the narrative would be a lot different , “they have really cemented their place as real contenders for Sam , they’ve shown here today they can beat any team out there including an in form Kerry etc etc .

My point is it doesn’t matter what we do till we win Sam maguire , the doubts rightly or wrongly will be there amongst our own as well as those from outside . We could romp home to a league title and win Nestor too in the next four weeks and you would still have everyone laughing at ya if you suggested we had a chance of winning the all Ireland .

Enjoy the game folks , we are very lucky to be from Mayo , we produce talented footballers who are always competing at the top level . Best of luck to the players and management.

On the return of the injured players and our depth. If we make it out of the round Robin, when we really need to be having our full panel are potential knockout games against quality teams. That's still quite an amount of weeks away.
Then, if we get injured players back and they only have the fitness for limited impact sub roles, that's still good.
I've come around to the view that this panel we have has less elite players than our peak team around 2014-2017, but I think our bench players 16-24 are better. We were really stretching once we went into 3rd to 5th sub in those years. I don't think we ever had much pressure on starting places in those years.

Can't believe Lee Keegan saying they went on the beer for 2 nights after beating Galway in the league final only to lose to Roscommon a week later!

Just outside ballagh. Re-Read that piece he done on rte and get back to me

Good team selection, anyone from senior development panel knocking on the door,who is in the development squad

Might be a bit tongue in cheek that article (Lee). Didn't he also back Kerry to win this weekend as his predictions, by his own admission, have famously backfired in recent weeks.
Wouldn't read too much into it at all. I remember a famous midfielder (who played at full forward when playing for Dublin) saying most of the beer the players claim to have consumed ends up on the carpet or in flower pots. This was back in the mid 90s when I moved to Dublin. Lot more science involved nowadays.

Ever the Optimist . Lee was talking about the 2019 final . We played New York 5 weeks afterwards, not Roscommon the following week ,as JustoutsideBallagh picked up

@seanBurke. You're right but after falling so many times at the biggest stage of the competition I'm afraid the fear factor sneaks into the mindset. You mentioned Galway but I can tell you from meeting lots of galweigans daily the same mindset is slowly trickling in there too and they're shitting themselves with the fear they could slip up again this year knowing it's shit or get off the pot time with the panel. I think a lot of the confidence /hype about Galway is spoken more by outsiders other than the galweigans themselves sure look if we don't win sam in mayo the only other hope I have is that Galway repeat the early 70s(man I wish I could have witnessed it) and lose 3 out of 4 all irelands. Anyway we'll know soon enough.

Great news from Rochford in that article on Paddy and Tommy, and they are right to be cautious with them (sounds like they are ready but giving them plenty of time). New rules will really suit both players so exciting times ahead.

On the game Kerry are missing a few players but I see Tom O Sullivan is named on the bench. If we keep White, Paudi and DC quite enough we have enough in our locker to win this one. A win and injury free outcome would be wonderful here....

Fantastic news !!!!

Roger that Paddyjoe, I wasn't too concerned with the facts at all. Rather, I was thinking Lee Keegan was just playing devil's advocate regarding his recent predictions, including the relegation of his own county in earlier punditry articles. He was just playing to form, nonchalantly slagging himself over his inaccurate forecasts.

I’d love if we could a switch that mindset piece as a team and a county though starting tomorrow. I’ve stated previously I don’t believe the players are good enough currently to win an All Ireland however it’s a national final. Let’s go win it. Let’s silence the doubters and not further reinforce the narrative we lose finals

Yes we won copious leagues and in recent years too which didn’t manifest into anything bigger, but taking tanking a like we did in 2010 or 2022 is not good for confidence.

Referring back to the Smaller Fish podcast, Mayonaze for your benefit ?, there was a sense Enda Hession won’t have the endurance to stick with this modern great in Paudi Clifford. I think Enda Hession could develop into one of the best defenders in the country. Yes he’s got to prove it but it’s obvious to me he’s a high ceiling. I think tomorrow is a day Jack Carney should use as day to announce himself as one of the top drawer midfielder to the country. His confidence is up, the talent level is high. Why not?! Up front the commentary is if ROD is held, Mayo are done. Right Frank Irwin or Paul Towey announce yourselves as serious contributors to the scoreboard tomorrow

Should Mayo tomorrow push right up on Kerry with a full court press and stop them from there. By doing this they don't give the Kerry players the time to pick the nice footpass into the inside forwards. Hard to do that for the full game though.

If you only listen to the national pundits, there's no point in us togging tomorrow. Always comes across as them only considering last week or two of games. My favorite national journo is Maurice Brosnan @ the examiner and our own @TsuDhoNim, always looking deeper and producing fantastic analysis that gets you thinking. Looking forward to the game now, we've a great shot

Hopefully Tommy gets back playing this year. He's a lovely lad.

Live music , pints , face painters , activities for all , free flags , full house etc

Match day experience for the rugger crowd today .

GAA should really have a gander .

Sean, how many changes due to injuries couple of days ago in the programmes? Given how physical the game is v Gaelic you'd expect at least 20 based on what we do have :)

@seanburke, couldn't agree more. There so much potential to make Mayo and intercounty games in general more of an occasion, especially for families. Be proud of our sports. McHale Park is one of the grounds that's most open to this too, it's got good space. Add food trucks, drinks, music. It would increase gate receipts massively too.

Kevin has done a wonderful job with these lads and would be great for the county to win a league title. Any news of the homecoming plans? The square in Ballinrobe would be a good venue too and there's plenty of parking space.

The gaa grounds were more welcoming to the younger supporters 45 years ago than they are now. Free entry,and you even got your ''tubs of ice cream ''delivered to your grassy seat. #great service.

@Charlie: Regardless of the result, the homecoming has been planned for the 6th in Castlebar.

Nothing better than a good helter-skelter Championship match against Sligo to raise the atmosphere, on & off the field. We're all looking forward to it.

Exactly GBXI , you get a big Connacht final once every 2-3 years in castlebar , how on earth they don’t make a bigger deal of it is an opportunity lost imo . I’d have a marquee set up on the josie Munnelly pitch , I’d have a full bar , live bands , ex players chosen for a chat on stage . I’d have buses organised to bring people home to each side of the county , activities for younger generations etc etc . I just don’t understand why it’s just a game like an aul game , people nearly have the keys of their cars in their hand ready to go home like they’re just there through habit and to get home as soon as they can , take that cultural bollix out of it , make it colourful and a day to remember. Grow it .

It’s only the last 20 years it’s becoming less attractive . Connacht final day used to be great , minor game on as curtain raiser , streets would be buzzing before hand etc . Clones Ulster final and Munster hurling final still has that buzz

Free single ticket for Lower Cusack 306 if anyone is interested

I’ll take it fatty boom

seanburke51@icloud.com

I will take it tatty boom

Fatty boom

Oops, sorry Lee - glad to see lads did not go on the beer before the Roscommon game, did not think that could be credible, although they certainly looked like they were after a couple of rough nights in that game. Hopefully a good performance tomorrow and no hangover for our game against Sligo!

The build up to the rugby game was more exciting than the actual game itself so far….

Well done Mayo hurlers.... first national title of the weekend.

Congrats hurlers as at @2hops said first national ltitle of the weekend and hopefully another tommorow ..

Pitch will need a good rolling for next weekend

Have you still got that ticket fatty boom batty

It will be great to have Tommy and Paddy back for the All Ireland. I feel we’ll need them.

Croker is a ghost town right now hopefully better atmosphere tomorrow !!

Nice to see some.of the u20s going so well Lydon looks a big talent in forwards.
Another seriously talented forward hasn't togged this year for the u20s but doesn't lessen his talent so these two lads should see alot of gametime in the future in corner forwards.

Think we need to tear into kerry , give to gard and plentiful to them at midfield and support runners early on.
Without being negative please don't conceed an early goal, if not and we grow into the game be great to see us express ourselves.
This is type of game AOS could well show his worth he's been quiet of late and written off all ends so be good to get a reminder of his talent .
David McBrien should see plenty open space on front of him and hope he goes for the jugular likewise if we get strong runners like Eoghan Mac on ball, kerry won't live with us .
If we're up to me I'd start

Eoin O D on Geaney...Mchugh/DC...Sam/Geaney
Eoghan Mac............Mcbrien........Hession on Paudie

Really impressed with Monaghan
Beggan 2 pointers are some weapon to have
Any foul inked halfway is almost guaranteed 2 points

Rossie are pure useless tonight, crikey they look so weak as water ‘.

If things don't go to plan for ourselves tomorrow that's one flank we can't get grief from at least.

Fair play to Monaghan they totally outclassed the Rossies tonight ..

Agree croker looked like a ghost town though..hopefully bit of a higher crowd tommorow !

2 hops. I love your post
The luky luky ice creams and 6 squeezed into the auld Anglia. What memories.

It’s gas. The 26 is named the day before the game and nobody has a word to say. Delighted to Diarmuid named again but disappointed not to see Eoin o Donoghue.

Are kobe mcdonald or oisin deane involved in squads this year. Serious potential at both

Outside of the Boot I’m not convinced AOS has been quite of late. I think he has had one of his best league campaigns in some time particularly the last few games. Did a lot of heavy lifting.

@Nephin it was probably only announced because there may be one programme for the full weekend of league finals? They're only doing the bare minimum anyways. Won't get any pats on the back from me. At least that horseshit is outlawed for championship

@Sean…big carnival type match days havnt happened cos of a lack of innovation, imagination and leadership.

@Rocco88…did you refer to me in error? I dont think I had mentioned anything about Hession? I’d agree the ceiling is high tho

Disappointed is well for Eoin o D not to make the bench even though thought he did well when he got his chances unless he's injured .

@sticks. Well it was probably the mark 2 escort for me but ya similar memories.

where can i find the list of subs does anyone know. good luck to our team tomorrow , hope theres no more injuries. i hope paddy and tommy are back very soon.

@Patrick Hayes here you go

https://x.com/MayoGAA/status/1906079501802770548

thanks rusty. safe traveling to morrow and enjoy the game

Rusty. Of course you’re right and I was checking the counties twitter accounts that were playing today to see if anyone put it up but I just thought people would have more to say.

Safe travels to all supporters today,hopefully a great game and Mayo to win,enjoy the game to the Kerry posters who are very fair minded,Mayo need to set a marker for the rest of the year,so enjoy the occasion,thanks to Willie Joe for all the information

Three outfield players on the subs bench that haven’t kicked a ball for mayo this campaign. Hopefully giving the likes of hession, mcbrien, mchugh, ruane, coen and o’donoghue all 7 matches won’t come back to haunt us.

Really think it's a toss of a coin between them today, but if any doubts about Aidan playing with knock that's curtailed him training this week I'd give Kerry the nod.
If he plays we should have the beatings of them in middle that can give us enough of a platform to win it.

Plunkett hopefully they get to see grass today, its tough on lads not to be given any chance at all at all. If the lads in the 26 can't get game time, what hope have 19 or so poor hoors on the "development panel".

Little bit taken aback by Rossies second half display last night.Along with the clan, watched it at home after a few pints in the local gaa club. Monaghan might be a right handful for the best of them further into the championship. Andy Moran seems to be good at getting a tune out of his lads, no matter where he's at.
I couldn't help feeling Burke told his lads to watch out for injuries though. O'Carroll looked totally off it altogether. If they click, they've some forward line in fairness.

@Gizmobobs agree..

Ah no way Aido has a knock? Your always spot on with your posts.

Fair play to Andy moran and monaghan he will be with mayo at some point in the future !

Best of luck today guys mayo by 2

Last time Crossmolina won the All ireland , Mayo won the league title , just saying , lol .
Safe travelling to whoevers going to the match.

Stop Deel Rover, and the neighbours across the n84/n17 won the big one :(

Rusty, we safe enough from that superstition this year, was senior AI Crossmolina won then, only intermediate this year and we not in the Tailteann so safe enough :)