One of your best post articles of the year Willie Joe.
I loved this part. QUOTE -
it would be my earnest wish that the relevant decision-makers turn their thoughts to where we are in the scheme of things now and how we might turn round an operation which is clearly heading in the wrong DIRECTION. End quote.
My own big tuppence. I've been posting here for years that there was factual evidence our SnC was on a wrong path, that we were too much towards endurance running and not enough speed, size and power. Can anyone deny that Yesterday showed our SnC up in stark contrast to Donegal.
Donegal lads leaning forward powering down fiekd by a big muscular gym built legs.
I really think next year is a year to really to a performance trend on quite a few mainstays of the team and potentially replace them with higher ceiling younger players.
Too many of our current panel are turned into one paced players and have undergone too much out of date stale coaching.
We have been very competitive U17 the last four years. It really needs an entirely new mgmt team with no carry over bar maybe medical physio nutrition. But SnC, coaching, player scouting all have to fully change. We also need some performance guru with a big stats background that will veto awful decisions like only bringing on Fergal Boland a shooter with the game almost over.

Thanks Willie Joe, My thoughts exactly, Over and Out until January. ( Please God let Breaffy win the club Championship :-) )

Thanks WJ for another great year on the blog covering county team.

WJ I completely agree and understand. I’m actually far more upset about yesterday than I thought I’d be.

The ‘relevant decision makers’ need to bite the bullet and appoint a Director of Football, but there needs to be a strong will from the people, the clubs, the grassroots in Mayo.

Maybe I’m being overly cynical but wait and see, we’ll likely get fed the annual dollop spoof about the centre of excellence like we do every year in the aftermath of our championship exit.

Massive, deep rooted overhaul is drastically required. It’s so clear to see.

Lets call it as it is. We had one simple task...beat Cavan. The nature of their destruction vs the other two teams will tell you how pathetic that result was.

Fast forward to yesterday. We had a man in charge who came from Donegal who had no clue how to beat them. Like vs Cavan he had a simple task make sure Michael Murphy was picked up and neutralised. Let us compare how Donegals stalwart did vs AOS. No comparison. It makes you wonder if our management managed and did all in their power to have COC there the role he would have had. Plain and simple we had noone to do the damage and when on the 21 went back not forwards. As stated previously I think it is time for an outside manager

I think the upset is more to do with a complete lack of faith and confidence in the people running Mayo GAA. We are way behind the pack. It’s very concerning and really disheartening. The only glimmer of hope is that we do appear to have some half decent players emerging and we do have lads in current squad who are strong but as Nigel Reape said we can’t leave it to the God’s. Anyway, I’ve said enough

I think I said it elsewhere earlier in the year - it's the hope that kills you, but it's the lack of hope that *really* kills you.
Time for club delegates to start making their voices heard now.

I'm so sad this morning like we all are . I'd say Cillian is glad opted out this year now .

Why waa Fergal Boland brought in in the last few minutes kind of insulting to him is well.

A disappointing morning for sure and the fact that we have been eliminated is sickening as we know there are worse teams left in it than us but it’s our own fault with the Cavan result. Having said that I went to The Hyde yesterday not expecting to win. All known from pointed to a Donegal win and things weee heading in that general direction at half time. But I was hugely encouraged by our second half display. The bravery courage and desire of our team was top class.We lost 3 to injury in the second half but kept battling manfully and could have sneaked a draw. Players and management deserve lots of credit for that Going man to man v Donegal requires courage and massive concentration as one lapse can be fatal. So disappointing then to come home and see the usual blame game. The Co Board, the management, individual players. The players who didn’t come on and those who were unavailable for various reasons were great again yesterday. Rochford has copped a lot of flak here but his preparation and set up in the last 2 games was very good and losing by the last kick of a game does not alter that. Surely the vast majority of knowledgeable Mayo supporters are aware that we are no where near as good as we were 10 years ago yet this year alone we should have beaten Galway, beat Tyrone and ran Donegal to the limit. All of these teams fancy their chances of ultimate glory. The nonsense that the dressing room was lost or that players were not playing for the jersey was proven to be nonsense. Our failings are the same failings we have had for as long as I can remember, not enough scoring forwards and an inability to get over the line in tight games. Maybe there will be a change in management but I don’t see any outstanding candidates lining up. While I am as desperate to win as any Mayo supporters all I can ever ask is that the players who represent the county give it everything and that certainly was the case in the last 2 games. Cavan was an outlier but Mayo had put such an effort in v Galway and were so deflated afterwards that the were extremely vulnerable. The same thing almost happened in 2016 v Fermanagh and 2017 v Derry but we scraped through in those games and made it to consecutive AI finals. Not so this year but on a morning that’s hard to be upbeat we have unearthed a few good lads this year, other younger players have had decent seasons and there are some talented u 20s coming along

@to win just once, I totally agree with you.

Mayonaze Agree totally but this has happened all my life with the County Board. I keep mentioning their rejection of Micko and McGuinness. Oisin McConville also had a good team in when McStay got the nod and he is doing well with Wicklow. It seems only yes men need apply.
I was at the game but someone told me that Eamonn Fitzmaurice was surprised when Tuohy was taken off as Fitzmaurice said he did nothing wrong. Was he injured and was Neary injured? They didn't seem to be.

Bloomsday, it is. And with Joyce in mind, I'll be dining on thick giblet soup and nutty gizzards between now and the end of July. Seriously, I note if Kerry win against Louth (they will), their quarter final opponents are Armagh.
Shite and onions to the lot of it!

Cavan, not Louth.

A forwards job is to score. To score you must shoot. What do you call a forward that won't shoot?

@Sticks…I said to a fella two mins before Bob was taken off that we needed to get Flynn on for him. The game was passing him by. It can happen.

With regard to the co board, the main appointment is actually at that level. Not manager of the team. While of course that (and backroom) are extremely important, the most crucial one now is a leader of Mayo gaa. A director of football.

Jr and To Win Just Once, I agree also.

I thought the strategy was coherent yesterday and was almost successful. It appeared to me to be a deliberate policy of containment in the first half (remember we did it versus Dublin in AI semi final in 2021) and then come out and win it in the second half. All of this strategy would be based on the fact that we are not big scorers, ever. Donegal are. I heard or read that somewhere late last week that we needed to keep the Donegal score down. We did it by keeping possession when we could and by defending like magicians in the first half, preventing open Donegal scoring. And then we needed to score ourselves, including goals, if possible.

Donegal looked “off” and insipid because we made them look way through huge work rate and application yesterday.

I really think Murphy won it for them in the second half. I think it was him who got two two pointers (4 points) and he took them on and swung them over from positions others wouldn’t. Posters here said McHugh had him shackled before his injury. Another correct move from us in that match-up therefore. (I hope Donnacha gets better soon.)

Our problem really is scorers and scoring, in general.

On reflection, I thought it was a bit rich from McGuinness praising his team for its ruthlessness. There wasn’t much to pick out from a performance that had them level on 70 minutes. Should he not be a bit more concerned about the fact that they only won the game after the hooter sounded?

I hate the conservative football we have been playing to excess this year. We need more vim and vigour! I really think that to play that exciting game we need to be able to make our own scores much more easily - and that is we need more lethal, reliable scorers and we need to be able to win midfield.

We have a great defence at present, thank God.

@Sticks for the Reek: Rochford mentioned both lads having hamstring injuries in his interviews, though I'd have agreed with Eamon that it wasn't obvious watching the lads moving.

I’d discount the S&C theory, both teams looked strong and fast. Donegal have been coached to inject pace especially on turnovers and Murphy’s hand passes were top notch, punched with pace to the player making the burst several times. I would say management got most things right in the last 2 games. Also our discipline was good on the new rules (not conceding 50m frees or player positioning infringements) but agree we had few 2 pointer tactics compared to most and probably the lowest 2 point stats out there. I saw an improvement on sideline eg being ruthless and pulling off a player early on. Debate on Boland vs Towey first on is a 50 50, similar skill sets.
However the point on being ruthless overall is taken. Once Moore got the ball he is an absolute flyer, our fastest players would struggle to catch him but stopping the long kickout should’ve probably happened. Management not fully to blame here. McStay was screaming at the players to get back last year vs the Dubs. Same scenario.
That said I have to say the team gave a huge effort yesterday. Donegal just a bit better but we had a never say die attitude and so nearly qualified. The lads will be hurting as will management. All of these give huge commitment in an amateur game. I think Jimmy’s a bit more ruthless than most, they beat Armagh who were the better team and now finish us off. Disappointed in Murphy being unsportsmanlike, he’s a great player but the game was over, shake your opponents hand. Can’t see how McHale would be sledging or any of that lark, never seen him even get a yellow. Murphy should call himself out on that behaviour. A bit unlucky with missing some players but it happens all teams. We’ve a generational player who didn’t join the minors yet and young McDonald wasn’t promoted to U20s yet and two of those U20s look like top forwards. Laughlin yes looks a leader but not big enough for senior midfielder and played half back for U20s, only Rodgers is of similar height of the top midfielders. Mullen is our equivalent but he’s gone so need to find someone to boost midfield. A few early 20s lads went backwards. Possibly juggling college and life as a young person with all the social media etc.. you’d need a thick skin as a young sports person these days. Midfield as much about kickouts and breaks than fielding and we’ve been below par in that. I’d fault management and also the kickout speed and trajectory needs more whether same goalie with more coaching or new goalie (we never developed a no 2). If management leave I currently don’t see the dream ticket. Horan brought was huge attention to detail and player development but never got us there. Jimmy went back to the past to get Murphy and what a huge player he is. Don’t know the answer, would like something fresh but don’t know who. If management stay on or are let and if the players want that, I would accept it. The people on the inside know more than us.

The current decision makers need to become non decision makers anymore, they are a huge part of the problem...no amateur, volunteer group like them should be allowed to run what is a multi million euro operation...as honorable as some/most of them are, they aren't up to it...Best thing is for the county board officials are is to become ceremonial figure heads on the county board, put in a director of operations, note the word operations, not a director of football...the director of operations will cover everything from finances through to managing and running centre of excellence etc etc. A separate director of football/ football development manager is needed to oversee all teams from un14/16s through to seniors with responsibilities for logistics, strength n conditioning, nutrition, etc etc...this director of football along with the director of operations should also have responsibility for coordination of all the coaches, have players playing to the mayo style, coach them to the highest standards...this is what's required. This will cost an awful amount of money....but if the fundraising is done properly and professionally there are more than enough good decent mayo people in the county and around the world to fund it on an ongoing basis, I'm certain of that...we can't sit an wait for the county board to do it, turkeys won't and don't vote for Christmas...but a group of supporters need to come together and put a plan together to present to the county board and to the mayo public to get its backing from the county...change has to happen. Its up to the supporters to lead it and demand it. We have a brilliant platform here with this blog thanks to wj, surely there are people on this blog who could come together to drive this...??????

On the subject of money a lot of talk around the Mount Falcon stay online and on pods. You'd imagine that must have been sponsored, hardly forked money out on that so soon after having the bigwigs down to talk about the financial situation that's crucifying us.

Swallow swoops .coherent strategy of containment with the wind .we had 8 shots at the target in the first half.players refusing to shoot in scoreable positions is not any form of a tactic

What mount falcon stay are u referring to gizmobobs???

To me Bob looked a bag of nerves,fumbled a few and agreed with him being replaced,and yes Neary had been getting treatment before he was subbed.

Yes, I take your point about the wind, 1985. And I’m 100% certain you have more football experience than me.
I just wonder did they decide to prioritise keeping Donegal restricted rather than opening up the game by going for scores?
If a team or person is going to keep the opponent’s score down, do they have to do that in the first half?

I think we did something like this versus Roscommon a year or two ago in the Hyde forsaking wind advantage when we had it. And that didn’t work out well for us then.

Swallow swoops surely we had to be ahead at half time with the wind and we had enough attacks to be ahead but this turning back or passing to a player in a worse position seems to be the first option now .in fairness it was a great effort in second half but to me the damage was done in first half.I genuinely feel very sorry for the players this morning and indeed the management but it has been obvious for some time this type of football was not suitable to the players we have.we never seemed to transition to the new rules.if you never attempt two pointers then you are very unlikely to get them .Donegals two pointer immediately after our goal was a killer blow and of course the likely killing of momentum by the Donegal player after our goal .was he genuinely injured we will never know

We had 25 shots in the entire game. Donegal had 35. We don't score enough, we don't shoot enough, we don't attack quickly enough. How has this not been analysed & rectified? This is going on for a couple of years now.

Look at Monaghan, Meath & he improvements they've made under new rules. It's crazy that we didn't embrace them

The end needs to come swift now no need to drag it out. We have regressed. Lots of potential for a fresh management team to work with

Im no football buff but it babbles me how we knock past & present managers. We bayed for James Horan to be removed, it is still written on the Mayo little house in Manulla 'Horan out' ( how embarrassing!), bring back Horan ball. Yet here we are today saying he should be our saviour of under age. Id imagine he has a belly full of Mayo supporters. He has been proven his pedigree many times over.
As for the present managers, personally another year sits fine with me. If we won/drew yesterday Stephen was king. We act like spoilt children sometimes, heartbreaking as the loss is for us all.
Good luck to any manager that us on, our love of Mayo football needs to harnessed successfully.
Somebody said journralsts should be allowed into county board meetings..they are. Reports on all media platforms.
You couldnt write the book yesterday & difficult to stomach it today. 💚❤️

@Swallow Swoops, you are spot on, yes I believe Mayo tried to keep Donegal restricted as much as possible, also held the ball alot also, ie, if I have the ball you don't, but we have seen those tactics Employed v the Dubs in the 2016 & 2017 finals. This will get you so far amd yesterday it nearly worked, but under the new Rules it will not work.
It's amazing but I see here in Dublin that some club teams just have not embraced the new Rules, hence they are not letting the ball do the work.

Moyside, seems thats where team stayed the weekend.

Agree on first half being where damage was done, 10 shots at goal with a strong breeze v Donegals 16, and we had an extra man for around 13 minutes.

https://x.com/performasports/status/1934278414292201677/photo/1

It's always "sack the management" after big losses. Then we do get new management, and it's the same problems. Never seems to occur to people that the standard of player isn't there to be competing for All Irelands.

We need to find proper shooters and lads who are comfortable in front of goal.

Darren McHale - did well in fairness but he's not capable of shooting from distance. His few points were well worked but they were gimmes. He turned down a few opportunities from further out.

Jack Carney - I just don't see what this lad offers. He missed two goal chances and didn't take on 3/4 shot opportunities.

Aidan O'Shea - Really good game but it was obvious in an attacking sense that Donegal kept forcing him out to the right, forcing Aidan to recycle as he has no right foot.

Bob Tuohy - Hooked and offered no scoring threat.

Ryan O'Donoghue and Conal Dawson were good.

When that's your starting 6 forwards, you're going to be in real trouble in these matches. Not being able to kick 2 pointers is like boxing with a hand tied behind your back.

We have offered a decent amount of goal threat all season, our problem is we don't have lads capable of putting them away. We blew a couple against yesterday.

Players a huge factor obviously Dreamy, but Donegal seem to be doing quite a bit better with much the same personnel as previous years.
The players available in the county are the players available. Management we spend big money on so are more changeable, thats the sad nature of it really.

two win just once, you say: "all I can ever ask is that the players who represent the county give it everything and that certainly was the case in the last 2 games".

It's hard to count the first half yesterday as "giving it everything", it really is. Or the full game against Cavan, which absolutely wasn't an outlier - the game against Leitrim was one of the worst games featuring a Mayo team I have ever attended in my lifetime (and I was in Longford in 2010). The Sligo game wasn't much better. The performance against Galway in the league was also very poor. There is a trend here. Players have to look at themselves, but so too, do management.

I firmly believe that several of the players on the pitch this season, while probably not of the calibre of those we were fortunate enough to have a decade ago - are capable of far more at an individual and collective level than what we have seen over the past three years. It is management's job to ensure that they can get the best from those players and I don't think anyone can really argue that this has been the case. That's criticism not borne out of laziness, or vendettas, or anything like that. How many shots did we get off in the first half yesterday? What kind of environment is prevailing that would deter so many players, who have reached the top level in Mayo football, from taking on shots?

Like the rest of us, I am certain that both McStay and Rochford wanted it to be different, but it hasn't happened for them. That is desperately disappointing, for us, yes, but for them more than anyone, but with no evidence of any development over the last three years, we cannot keep denying reality. And the fact that several talented players chose to step away this year can't be ignored or dismissed, it tells a tale.

As does the style of football we have elected to play, which has included turning our backs on some of the opportunities offered by the new rules. Mayo scored three (2) two-pointers in the entire championship this year. The Armagh *goalkeeper* scored as many in a single game on Saturday. Are you telling me there is no-one in our panel capable of delivering a better return than that? We saw one example of someone who has the ability to shoot from distance brought on with mere seconds to go in the game. And he very nearly got us over the line.

We have indeed unearthed new talent and there is some serious young talent coming through the ranks, but it has to be attractive for them to play senior football for Mayo too in order for us to retain them, and we cannot afford to stifle their creativity going forward. Rochford yesterday insisted we still remain as competitive, but the fact that we have not even reached the quarter finals this year really proves otherwise.

Maurice Brosnan in the Examiner had this to say at the end of his piece this morning:
"A summer terminated before it has even begun. Outside the dressing room post-match was mournful silence. Injured players stand alone with mute tears. Exhausted combats limp to the bus where they first try to console a devastated team-mate crumpled over on the steps. County board representatives stand glumly. Dark clouds gathering."

As if ye weren't all depressed enough already!!

Excellent post Ann Marie.hits the nail on the head

@Ann - Marie

Good comment.

My God that is a depressing read from Maurice Brosnan .

Fair play to the mayo players who stayed around after to sign the little kids tops etc . Must have been hard as they were devasted .

Not reaching a quarter final in 2 years is depressing.

I feel for Mcstay as you said just never happened for them .

It's time for new management though. We need new energy.

Going to be a long summer & winter !

That's not, by the way, to say we haven't shown flashes of great football this year - the second half against Armagh, the second half against Galway, the Tyrone game, the second half yesterday. It's not all doom and gloom. But the consistency isn't there, while the abundance of caution is. Call it game management if you will, but our inability and unwillingness to score is a huge problem and as supporters without knowing anything that his happening behind the scenes, we can obviously we can only go on what we are seeing in front of our eyes.

I often think about how Armagh kept faith with McGeeney and wonder if we are just too impatient here in Mayo, but it felt like the team really had McGeeney's back, and I'm not too sure if the same would apply here. Perhaps I'm wrong about that though. I do still think of 2014 though and how gutted most of us were when Horan stepped down; it felt like a real sliding doors moment.

I’ve seen so much online rubbish over the last 12 hours.
Terms like
“Cavan are average and we deserve to be in a preliminary QF”
“Louth, Monaghan, Down all not as good as Mayo”
“Look at how we played against Tyrone and Donegal. Give Rochford more time”

Honestly what are people on about at times. We are out of the championship because we were disgraceful against Cavan and fully deserved the loss on the day. So if we can’t beat an average Cavan team what right do we have to claim we should be ahead of them.

The amount of excuses made to defend certain agendas and results is another reason why this country needs a complete overhaul.

I have heard some people online say “we need a proven manager winner to take over the team”, a few weeks back only to change their tune now and say “give it to Andy” because he will play nice attacking football.

No doubt there are very knowledgeable mayo supporters out there, but for the best part they are silent. Some people make up the most ludicrous excuses to justify decisions (at CB, mgmt, players) that go wrong.

The truth is, we have a CB that can’t run a bath, a management that have progressively made the team worse, from a skills, tactic and S&C perspective and a certain element of the fan base that claims everything is rosey in the garden.

A serious culture change needed in this county if we are to be serious in the future.

@ Anne-Marie, Great points and the quote from Maurice is the coup d'état. Didn't make the game yesterday mainly due to financial reasons. Had to leave the pub after, devastating way to go out. A draw with 15 seconds on the clock, Mayo are box office when it comes down to losing ( and winning ). Wake me up in February / March, going into hibernation.

Willie Joe , Colm Boyle combo for next management team ... walk the walk .
Joking aside. My heart goes out to the players and management today .
So much effort and so much hurt today .
Thanks to all the players and extended panel for your commitment.
Ya went down swinging

I mentioned to the nephew how refreshing it was to see young Dawson having a go last night on the phone and the nephew promptly chided me...."they'll soon coach that out of him". Cynical or insightful?.

Green and red. How much time are we willing to give this management. Horan got slaughtered on here for losing an all Ireland final. We cannot make a preliminary quarter final now. That's hardly progress. Murphy v aos. Murphy won that hands down yesterday. Aos is not a scoring forward. Why did he not punch the ball over the bar first half. There's no confidence in mayo football. 6000 at the cavan game tells us everything. Its probably time for change. One manager. Not another who's on my ticket management. We played a containment game first half with the wind and a black card. Its too negative. Donegal weren't great either

Another depression filled Monday, on the game itself McHugh had done a great job on Murphy until he got injured, after that he put in a game winning performance. We were poor in the first half, felt we needed to start like a house on fire but what we got was flat and lateral, we didn't look like we had the wind !

On the future, our style needs to change, you don't see many teams play 10-20 passes regularly around the arc without taking a shot. Kerry will let go after a few passes consistently as do many other teams. The longer you hold the ball in those positions often than not its just getting harder to score.

I don't know if McStay or Rochford will stay on, I have my doubts though. I do believe they have Mayo's best interests at heart but I think a fresher approach is needed. Andy maybe lacks experience but will have learned a lot from his recent roles. With a good mgmt team around him he could do very well and he'd certainly bring a passion and desire with him

The conservative nature of the play is very hard to stand over. Even if we are competitive against the big teams. Everyone agrees we are not shooting and thus not scoring enough. If Rochford is to stay on, and that will only be if the players make a big deal about wanting him to stay, then they have to introduce a style of play that encourages more shooting.

Also, a moment for Fergal Boland. I don't know the guy but what an attitude he has. After being dropped and living in Australia, he had every right to tell McStay to go take a run but he didn't. Then he constantly gets dismissed, not picked despite being more talented and consistent than many of the starters and yet still has the courage to kick that score after only being on the pitch a couple of minutes. We need more players like him.

I've a feeling Rochford will be kept on for next year. Good performances against Tyrone and Donegal. It's not too far a stretch to say that he will. Anyways, if we'd held it for 10 more seconds before taking our last shot, we would have been in the draw this morning. And playing Kerry in Killarney next Saturday, probably!! We would eventually have been put out of our misery there.

Yes please to Colm Boyle being involved with the Mayo team! Bring him in now!
I thought Fergal’s score at the end was incredible. As was Conal Dawson’s score earlier on the game.

And Colm Reape’s kick to deflect a sure goal. And a dispossession of Murphy that led to a Mayo goal.

David McBrien has great hands to steal a ball from an opponent and he has excellent speed too.

Anne-Marie’s concern about ‘stifling creativity’ of young players is right.

Anne Marie - we do not have a midfield capable of competing for an All Ireland, no matter who the management is. How does management turn a small, one-paced midfield into big, mobile ball winners? Ruane is playing midfield for years now and is constantly being overran by teams who have bigger and more dynamic pairings when push comes to shove, and that's going on since 2021. He doesn't have the skillset to compete against out and out proper fielders, but I don't see anyone else in the squad that does, frankly. The team that wins the AI will have a big, mobile midfield. Under the new rules, it's the most important area of the pitch now. We've been comprehensively beaten round the middle several times the last number of years. We do not have those players at this time and haven't had since Horan's first stint. Worryingly, I don't see them coming through at underage either.

Add to that, we are shockingly one-paced going forward. How is a lack of pace coached? You have it or you don't, and it can be lost through injury etc. You make reference to Boland - more than one management team haven't fancied him as a fixture of the starting 15. Are they all wrong? I agree there is a fear of shooting that likely comes from coaching. There is also the age-old Mayo problem of woeful and wild shooting that comes from an underage structure that doesn't value or teach composure, creativity and vision in forward play. That's going on since I was in school. If David Clifford played for Mayo, he'd have been fashioned into a half back and all the flair bet out of him by the time he was 20. Is that a senior management issue or an underage issue?

I'll be more than glad to be wrong and I agree that management have ran their race. They made mistakes particularly around substitutions at critical moments. I just think anyone who really believes that a new management is going to have the squad singing a tune that will win an All Ireland is in for a shock. There are big skills issues and psychological issues in that squad that won't be easily fixed. Comparing us to Donegal isn't comparing like for like. Our inability to manage and see out games from winning positions is on the players, in my view. That's about responsibility and leadership and composure. Did the Dubs need to be coached to start fouling like mad in the dying minutes of a big game to see it out? The current management will go because I don't see how they can stay and it hasn't worked, but I can't see how the same problems aren't going to rear their heads again with the next soul who takes on the job. It's like these issues get passed down through the generations. Would make you wonder where the real problem lies? Is it in senior management or in underage structures that are responsible for producing players? Is it in the footballing culture in Mayo that for many years has almost encouraged chaotic, heart in the mouth stuff because "that's when Mayo are at their best", despite the fact that this approach is wildly unpredictable and usually leads to gallant defeat when push comes to shove? What about the county board? We'll do the senior management dance again, but there are big problems in Mayo football.

Anne Marie I am not really disagreeing with you but if we want an environment for young players to develop and progress then we need to stop being ultra critical and blaming all and sundry every time we lose. We played well yesterday especially in the second half. We played well v Tyrone. We played ok v Galway The league is irrelevant. We were poor v Sligo and Leitrim and woeful v Cavan The Cavan game was an outlier in that we were desperately deflated and if you’re not on your game you will struggle with half decent teams. The point I made is that we have the same failings still as we had years ago. No great scoring threat an inability to win tight games( and an inability to get up for supposedly inferior opponents) And then there’s the go to blame of Management each time. John Maughan was to blame John o Mahony was to blame Horan went from hero to zero in 4 weeks in 2021. Rochford made wrong decisions in 2016 etc etc. I would expect to see a new management but as I said I don’t see many outstanding candidates lining up to take the job. On the 2 pointer issue we just have not been scoring them and it’s killing us but do you blame management for that. I think we would all agree Ryan is our best chance for a 2 pointer and he hung around the arc in the first half but dropped some short. We brought on Towey in Connacht final as he is a good shooter but he missed 2 shots. Yesterday fair play to Boland he came on and kicked a score but we have no one like Beggan McCarron etc who you could really rely on to score from distance. Even Cillian has struggled with scoring long distance frees. O Baoill who scored a number of 2 pointers in Ulster came on and kicked a massive one yesterday which negatived our goal. Teams playing Mayo know that you only need to defend the arc as it’s well known we don’t have the firepower to score from distance

The style of football we play didn't work in donegal for 4 years. Hasn't worked in mayo for 3 years. So 7 years later I think we need change. . The silence on Tommy conroy s injury is deafening. That's another thing horan got slated for when in charge. Thought ruane was poor yesterday too. Not willing to take on the shot. Boland s situation is baffling

@Pullhard: "It’s not too far a stretch to say that he will."

I'd consider it an incredible stretch.

The county board literally couldn't afford to keep on the current backroom team on.

Trust has been lost (both in terms of results & style of play) with attendances tanking heavily. Any hope of fundraising would be relatively hampered by it too. In a perfect world, the financials would be kept a million miles from the grass... but our world is far from perfect.

The panel is down +10 figures with most comments (be that on TV or interviews in print media) pointing that in the direction of management. A worrying number around really not enjoying the style of play/playing/training, without ever being directly at the manager. Most teams don't have lads from the previous year's panel calling for a "coup" shortly before a game.

Fair play to all the folks that worked unbelievably hard the last few years as part of the setup, on the line or deeper in the backroom team, but I'd say we can very much expect a new approach coming next year. I don't even see it as a question at this point.

@ Anne-Marie and @ Green and Red...two posts which sum up my exact thoughts.

@ Moyside...the first laugh I've had since yesterday. Thank you. The decision makers need to become non-decision makers. It's funny and sad at the same time...but true. Unfortunately, the musical chairs will continue and nothing there is likely to change unless there is real pressure from the clubs...but will there be? Even reading this blog you can see that some people actually think we played well yesterday in the first half.

@Swallow Swoops and anyone who thought we played well yesterday in the first half. Seriously. I don't know what you were watching. 'Defending like magicians in the first half'?? We were cut open. Did you listen to the Pod? Ed McGreal said Donegal should have had 3 or 4 goals. They missed a few sitters. Nigel Reape said 'Mayo were holding on in the first half and that Donegal (through their wayward shooting; not due to good defending) were leaving Mayo in this. Which is exactly what I was thinking. I said on here at HT yesterday that we were lucky to be only 3 down at HT and we still had a chance because the only way was up given how muck we were in the opening 35 mins. One where we had an extra man for almost half of that time and a steady breeze in our favour. We had 9+ turnovers. Our hand passing, soloing and skillset was really off. It was awful stuff. Nigel Reape said a number of Mayo players were 'fierce lucky to be on the pitch after HT'. Anyone who thinks Mayo were even close to ok, needs to go watch the match on tv again. We were far better in the 2nd half, but we had to be and it still wasn't good enough to beat a Donegal team who were 'doing the bare minimum in the 2nd half' (McGreal), because they new they'd be playing next weekend. ....and we still couldnt even get a draw against them. It was poor and like Anne-Marie said...the trend has been poor.

I also don't buy the 'we don't have the players' argument. Look at the change in Donegal since McGuinness came in. It's essentially the same panel. The championship is wide open. There's no team that Mayo couldn't beat, if we are set up correctly, but we need a manager who gets the best out of the players there (that isn't happening by a long shot) and who entices the best players to play for Mayo (also not happening).

Someone needs to have a chat with Oisin Mullin and do their best to get the lad home. We need Cillian and Carr back for 2026. If and I know it's an 'if', you had those two fit and motoring along with Conroy...then it transform's our team.

There is good raw material there in the team, nice blend of youth and experience.
We said it before, Mayo are not that far off.
We think of yesterday, the Dublin game, the Derry game, the 2 Connacht finals, a kick of the ball - "a grain of rice".
Because of the way we play the game I think the transition to the new rules has been harder on Mayo than many other teams so that needs to be worked on.
Work on a few things and put the right structure around the team and we can progress next year.

I'm going to state my case now that next year is a big transition year. In the formation of the 2026 panel it should be a huge selection negative those players that lack pace and are quite regularly doing the backwards or pass around the arc handpass.
We almost won 4 u17s in a row and it's time to bring in 21 to 19 year olds, a big tranche of thrm with higher performance ceilings than current panellists.
If a player's game doesn't suit the new rules they've no business being on the panel.

Ah you know you can talk about this that and the other today..As WJ said..no interest in it much but nevertheless as football fans we'll give it a go and direct as best we can..so let's see

1- are our players good enough, I can honestly say since 2021..No improvement, skills, tactics or otherwise.

2- No forward movement or plan under new rules, our forward play is very poor, no kicking ball into space.

3- midfielders a huge problem, no ball winners and no scoring power.

So that's the reality in my view.

Despite going well for a personal perspective, the last few club championships have been absolutely dire stuff. With a big long lead in now and these wonderful new rules, I'm hoping well finally see some incisive and exciting attacking play at club level. If this is led by the younger elements of the county panel, better again. A good club would be a tonic for some momentum going into next year's league because the last few years have been so so bad and it's fed over

As for yesterday, it was an intense game but it was poor enough quality. All our games this year have been so low scoring compared to the norm. That must be down to the slowness of our attack, keeping so many men outside the arc rather than commiting them in. Donegal didn't help in that regard either but they did have a small bit of kicking and not just feeding off turnovers and hoping we'd get breakaway scores. Strange that we'd revert back after it working v Tyrone

You are not going to win games if your players won't or are not allowed to go for scores , if a fresh player not long on the field can't keep up with/catch and then give up chasing a player who was on field for full game and maybe 15 klms ran before that. Our Fitness and S&C has to be changed that's obvious .

In relation to that last kickout, Mayo should have been he'll bent on winning it, did they forget that they could have still won the game and topped the group

Mayonaze, I was at the game and saw a huge defensive effort from Mayo in the first half. I haven’t listened yet to the podcast and definitely do need to watch the game back on TV.

It seemed that Donegal had the ball more than Mayo in that first half, and yet considering the amount of possession they had, they didn’t put a corresponding amount of scores on the board. That’s curious to me.

It also seems unfortunate for Donegal that they didn’t convert the goal chances they had. It was a miracle that Reape saved one, I will admit.

dreamysleepynightysnoozysnooze, great post, and there isn't a lot in there I would argue with either - we can both have points of view that don't necessarily oppose, but are part of a bigger picture.

Re midfield, that's a massive issue for sure, which when you see how many players we have on our panel that play midfield for their clubs is even more alarming. But what have we done to try and address these issues even within the panel we have? Frank Irwin and Dylan Thornton both play midfield for their club and Thornton while perhaps not quite there yet physically, to me doesn't lack mobility and he is well able to win ball. And the fact that we have been so poor under the breaks hasn't helped - but that is surely an area that can be addressed with coaching.

Re pace, yes, absolutely. Just look at Moore yesterday and the way he took off! But there is more than one way to skin a cat. Where were the diagonal balls into the forward line yesterday, the bit of innovation we saw against Tyrone? We've seen all year how underused O'Shea - while not the answer to all our problems there - has been in the forward line, and how effective he can be winning the long ball and laying off the pass for a high-percentage shot and yet, we don't look up. Re: Boland, his return from play across several games is enough of evidence for me. Start him, don't start him, but bringing him on with mere minutes to go in a game in which we need scores and players on the pitch are either incapable or unwilling to shoot is just not the way to use him. It does nothing for his morale nor for the team. There have been several instances now where he has come on and managed to find scores, but there is only so much a lad can do in five or ten minutes, and I think he deserves a bit more.

You are of course right about the history of our scoring forwards. And looking at the likes of Neary, who has pace, guile and abandon, it's my biggest fear that this will be coached out of him. We badly need a few mavericks, a few bad boys, and I can't even think of too many of those at club level unfortunately.

You make the point about the culture in Mayo encouraging chaos but look at the way Galway played in the second half on Saturday, the way Armagh regularly play. Even Donegal with their running style which is something previous Mayo teams excelled at. Look at how our U17s and U20s are playing, Is it "wildly unpredictable" or just good open attacking football? It's not always chaos or uncontrolled, it's just executed well and is the type of play that is the norm for other counties, yet it's somehow perceived as a brand of madness when we do it. Yesterday could also be classed as a gallant defeat, but if we had played more football in the first half, we might have had a different result.

I don't expect magic from a new management team, but look at what Horan achieved in the space of a year in 2011. We went from losing in Longford in 2010 to competing against Cork in 2011 (the day the belief returned), and reaching a final in 2012. Look what McGuinness has done in a very short time. Look at what Bannigan and Andy are doing above in Monaghan.

Ultimately though I do know you are right about the root causes and the bigger problems, and the thought of the "senior management dance" as you beautifully put it brings with it a sense of dread, not least the fear that the end of season review will drag on for months like last year. I'm not looking at this from a thoughtless, knee-jerk simplistic point of view of "change the manager and all will be fine". Far from it. As Pullhard says above, I wouldn't even be surprised if no change was forthcoming. But as TsuDhoNim says, can we afford to leave things as they are either?

Lots to ponder. But nothing to fall out over!

Get billy joe and boyler on for the review pod during the week if possible always interested in what they make of the performance.

He gets some abuse Reape but he was really good yesterday. Not his fault no midfield to catch a ball .

Funny to think what the comments would be like today if we'd won that kickout Ontheditch and kicked the winner from it, tiny margins

Swallow Swoops, do not forget We had the wind and an extra man for nearly 13 minutes, it was on us to build the score. I'd say Donegal were delighted at HT. Albeit maybe disappointed not to have bagged a goal or two the way they carved through the heart of our defense a few times.

A lot of talk about did well against Galway, won against Tyrone, good performance against Donegal, it's crap, James Horan said he wanted to make Mayo consistently competitive and he did, during he's first spell, (and a take point he had a great crop of players,) we weren't even worrying about Connaught, we were as dominant as Dublin in Leisnter or close.
Look at the Meath team, obviously you need players but we have them, I don't think we can under estimate the importance of the manager, I believe under JH no way we lose that game yesterday, or Galway game for that matter.
I'm not saying he should come back or he's the answer but we were beating by Cavan at home, need fresh management team or we are heading back to Longford days again.

I know it’s cold comfort to the keyboard All Ireland or bust warriors, but I’d like to say thank you to our players and management for trying their best.

It wasn’t good enough.So what !
We had navigated the treacherous jungle with a bottle of water and a square of chocolate (Tom Crean like)and were at the finish line when we got snake bitten.Again.

However hard it is for supporters It’s bound to be a lot tougher on players and management who gave it their all and did it with grace and class.

It is not any single person’s fault.It is what it is. As Stephen Rochford said after the game,the group stage table doesn’t lie. It was a proper reflection of where we are at as a county.

I thought we were about 11 th best team in Ireland last year and I thought we were about 8 th or 9 th best this year-in the (Championship)analysis. Before yesterdays’s game.

Getting beaten before,or by,the quarter final was almost a certainty imo. It doesn’t fucking matter that we didn’t get another week or two.
People need to be real here.

The final result was a true reflection of where we are at.Rochford is right.

I actually think we progressed this year but not by enough.And meanwhile,due to new rules,the emergence of several star goalkeepers,and less focus on contact football (the emergence of the two pointer has contributed to this)other teams made”more progress”than us.

It is inarguably true that we simply do not have the quality of forwards of Galway or Armagh or even Kerry or Dublin or Donegal.That we can beat any of those teams on a given day does not change that fact.

Wining the All Ireland is a slog and you need to beat a lot of really good teams. One after the other. Every major team has tasted defeat.That tells you either all teams are flawed, or very close to each other in skills,or both. And the journey is grueling. You need huge depth of talent that we simply do not possess.

I thought our defense was very good yesterday and the last day.That has to be hugely encouraging.I thought the energy levels we achieved in the last two games was off the charts great. I thought the fire and bottle we brought to the last two games was excellent.

I thought management got it mostly right (allowing for the players at their disposal)in the way we played.I know people will say we should’ve taken more shots in the first half yesterday and that criticism is somewhat valid.

But our defense was under a lot of pressure and our forward unit needed to hold up the ball so that our defenders could catch their breath.

Donncha McHugh had Murphy contained.The injury to him was the real killer(Mind you if three different players went off with hamstring injuries it speaks of a problem with snc)

Look I’m long on the tooth now pointing out how Mayo are not ruthless enough and do make similar errors in (lack of)application of ruthlessness every year.For more than a decade.

This is our real flaw.Thats the coaching fail. There does not appear to be any systematic development of composure,awareness and ruthlessness.

Do you think Ciaran Moore came out that way or was he coached that? Of course he was coached. It was a snake bite with the venom coached into him.

Sport is not a win-win thing. It’s a zero sum game.There are winners and there are losers. In fact it could conceivably have been a win win yesterday but Moore rejected that.
That was poison- to him!
He is the personification of McGuinness on that team.

Would Mayo have been as aware as he was in that moment? They were not !Period!

He wanted to beat us and he went for it. Do we have that killer instinct? As Willie Joe pointed out it’s two years in a row getting(eventually)beaten the same way. We have the fire alright,but the composure(ice)eludes us.

I’m grateful for the excitement that following Mayo brings me.I’m grateful for this blog. I’m hopeful for the future.And football has become very enjoyable to watch again.

But we have to be real. It’s silly to be overhyping our chances before games or being over critical after games. Watch the club games and tell me where there are the white heat of championship level players being left behind! I’ll wait.

Our players recovered a lot of pride in the last two games and the players and management have my utter respect for the sacrifices they make.

I think the new game suits players like James Carr and Tommy Conroy.
Certainly our U-20 crew have a few belters of forwards and midfielders too. Ditto the minors. Andy Moran has to be part of any new set up imo.

With time we can develop a panel and move up the rankings.But I doubt it’ll be quick because other counties are currently improving at a much faster clip and have better young prospects at a more advanced level,in better systems,so counties like Monaghan and Down could (conceivably)pass us next year (if they have not already)

Their game was fun to watch yesterday but it left me feeling that this was no longer a(excuse my neanderthalism)”manly”game.
There has to be good defending too and hits.But it’s not manly,or womanly either,to get beaten the same way time after time.

Unless we unearth two great midfield prospects and three new championship forwards and we coach composure we won’t be moving up from 8 th spot imo.

Until then we should be real about progress.

Can anyone tell me when a player put s up his hand... what does it mean because we were at it again yesterday and I still couldn't figure out what it's all about because we continue to pass the ball around. I think the county board will give management 1 more year. When micky moran took over alot of players came back and we need more options up front. That's another reason I want change. Coc.carr. Tommy conroy.

Anne Marie - I agree. There have definitely been mistakes made and I don't see how management can or will want to continue. However, I just think tne problems run quite deep, and exist at underage level too. There's a culture problem.

In terms of the chaos, I'd argue it often is a bit different for us compared to the likes of Armagh. At the end of the day, Armagh got the job done when the opportunity presented itself and I'd fancy them to do it again if they make a final. They invoke chaos but they have mental composure. We do not possess that. We are very inconsistent and honestly mentally fragile when we are in the belly of the beast, even during Horan's first stint. I will say, I do agree on Horan stepping away in 2014 as a sliding doors moment. It was a huge mistake on his part, in my view, because I think that team were close to making a break through and needed him, but it's all what ifs now unfortunately.

It was asked what can be done about speed?
Colm Boyle stepped away, came back bigger and faster.
Lee Keegan came out of underage rugby post speed work.
In development years you can convert muscle fibres to fast twitch, but if you do a lot of slower endurance work those same muscle fibres convert to slow twitch endurance permanently.
You also need to be physically strong with a lot of leg strength work.
Look at the legs and hips on the Donegal and Dublin players.
We would demolish that Donegal team in an 800m race.... but that's not the physical fit and yet we were testing players running ability over 1km. That's a public fact that we did timed tests over 1km.

I don't agree with posters on here saying we don't have the players. Grant it we persist with one or two players who should have been dropped long ago. Donegal didn't have the players when Rochford was there and yet they have won 2 Ulsters since. It's time to get real and work out the equation. Mgt only woke up after the Cavan game and changed the style of play from lateral to more direct as everyone could see. Closing the door when the horse has bolted. Bye bye Mgt.

Last post is 100% correct.

Look back on the comments up to half time in the Armagh league match. Then I’m the second half of that match we looked like AI contenders. Then come Connacht championship back to the same shite again.

I don’t blame our players at all.

Management undoubtedly have come to the end of the line after 3 years of regression....

But players cannot be absolved completely, it shouldn't be beyond the wit and ability of these players to take on a scoreable chance when presented with it, with a wind some of them turned down very handy chances in 1st half because they didn't back their skillset. Players need to be accountable too...

I didn't see young Ciaran moore stopping to look over at the line for guidance as he tore off up the line for the winning score

I cannot actually believe some posters think Rochford should stay on! What is wrong with ye?
-Again yesterday he showed his inability to embrace and play to the new rules
-He should have known Donegal inside out and had a plan but allowed the oldest man on pitch do the damage
-that was his 6th year involved in a Mayo senior team and he has not delivered any silverware
-his teams play a style of football that is not ruthless enough

I could go on. Sure while we are at bring Jack O Shea and Pat Holmes back too

Great minds think alike, Ontheroad13! It's not nailed down 100% yet but that's the line-up we're talking about for the review pod during the week.

I know everyone means , well and I am as positive as anyone but please review the year in cold light of day.

People calling for feed AOS correct ball, 90% of time it bounces of his chest or fingers, he slips, tries that big hop, which looses time and bottles himself up, the proper top intecounty skillset is not there .
Man s been great for us etc but he's been maximised and nothing changed yesterday.

Boland , again lovely score etc but can't blame management for not playing him, games have passed him by , he has no build up play involvement and slows game down even more so than current first 15.

Please just take stock of where we are, before we chastise Rochford and Mulligan for playing the hand of cards available to them .
We haven't enough talent in that team, we aren't peak championship football fit, we haven't the winners mentality players out there , rootless winners, men who stand up in defining moments, it's all to easy to chase a game but when pressure on, balls short into keepers hands.

Only thing I'll blame management for is the high % shot culture that was put in the team and strangled all lads confidence.
They were unfortunate we hadn't 3 born leaders in Cillian, Diarmuid and Loftus not available, those three are key moment players and were a massive loss.

I'm going to relax attend club championship and hope to see some unearthed stars but just chill out everyone, we went out to a better team they were a team of through bredhorses, we have a good few clydesales on our team and that no offence to lads just truth, we haven't the top quality 18 players that's needed at least not togged for last few games anyhow .

I think going man to man on Donegal was a very smart move and it is the way they will be beaten this year.
If we are going to change management let's hope we do it quickly and correctly
I think Rochford did well in the last 2 games.

One strong opinion in any management team is enough.

So our inter county season is over before midsummer and while I agree the damage was done against Cavan the warning signs were there well before that one.
A mostly bang average league end with a shocking performance against Kerry.
Awful again v Sligo but scraped through.
Outplayed for long periods in the Letrim game and managed to surrender a winning position in the Connacht final.
From the first league game against Dublin it was clear we were all at sea with the new rules and we still are.
A change of management is sadly essential because we've regressed badly and while it's well known that there's some super talent coming through the new wave cannot be entrusted to the present setup.

I would have rochford as manager in 2026. We are after playing well against tyrone and donegal. Hopefully he is appointed before the club championship. If the current management is not staying on it needs to be done soon and have a new management in place beforr club championship starts. I hope Aidan stays on for 2026. Nightmare finish to the game which knock the wind and speech out of me.

I suggest Rochford be kept on as manager as he did well for the last 2 matches.

Not sure why Boland was not introduced earlier
Morahan was completely burned for the last score surely Calanan would be a better option.

Overall a great 2nd half performance 👏

If you look at the three seasons as a totality no one from the current mgmt can stay on.
It's not a good enough three seasons to hand it on to Rochford. The players and new players need a fresh approach.

I don't know how some are saying Rochford should be kept on .

It's not good enough the last 3 seasons. If he stays on Cillian won't return .

Dare I say it, today of all days...but IF there is a change in management this year, does anyone else think Tony Mcentee would be a good shout...he was a selector/coach with rochford in 16/17/18....did an admirable enough job with sligo.....

Agree jp this management team has had chance and I we probably shouldn't go back to any manager that's been there before , nobody is questioning management commitment or effort, but the games has changed and we need to change with it, although we did a lot of things well yesterday when we didn't have the ball, we did a lot wrong when we did have it, you can't play with fear, and not take simple scores

What has our forward s coach brought to the party or is that a silly question. Zero is what I think.

@clare, going to past players isn’t going to help us. O’Connor is a great player but will be 34 next year, he’s no michael murphy. O’Shea i have nothing but respect but we need to be ruthless. He should not be starting next year, bench player. Have him in midfield or full forward for 10-20 minutes. Diarmuid O’Connor is too injury prone, great player but not fit enough to play. We need to play more kick passers. Brickenden, loftus (hopefully), Dawson. Get away from these athletic type players and have people who can kick. A half back line of dawson, durcan and loftus would kick two pointers for fun.

Give Rochford a bit of credit lads. He's nobody's fool and he would need to be to remain in situ. If next year proves to be a washout, he'll take ALL the blame for past shortcomings. Think about that for a minute.

A cash strapped county board will reappoint Rochford for 1 more year.

Ah things are making a lot of sense now,

Let’s give Stephen Rochford the job full time based on 2 performances. One of which we lost!

Let’s completely forget about the disgusting Cavan performance. Let’s completely forget about the hammering we got in the league final. Let’s forget about allowing Galway win 3 Connaught titles in a row. Let’s forget about the absolute hammering we took off Dublin in the QF 2 years ago. Let’s forget about the brutal style of football that took us to penalties against Derry. That we lost. Let’s forget about the fact that we used the lowest number of players in the league “when we were technically in a rebuilding phase”Let’s forget about his last year as manager, loosing to Kildare. Let’s forget about the CRAZY decision to sub Clarke for 2016 All Ireland final, that cost us at least 1-5 on the day. Let’s talk about the fact that he has been either a manager, assistant manager or coach for 8 seasons now (6 mayo, 2 Donegal) and has yet to win a provincial title. Pat Homles and Noel Connelley have a better record in Connaught than Rochford. James Horan has won 6 Connaught titles in 8 years and all anyone can say is that he isn’t the answer. If Horan isn’t the answer I’ve no idea how people think Rochford is.

The entire management need to step away. Donie Buckley has rinsed this county over the last 10 years and no All Ireland to show for it. But we will be told he’s the best coach in the country. For god sake stop. Can’t even get a coaching gig in Kerry anymore. Rochford ran from Donegal 3 years ago. Look at them now. Right in the mix for Sam. Maybe we could do the exact same??

Anyone that thinks any part of this management team should be left for another year is basing it on agendas. The rumours and complaints made by players were there last year and completely ignored.

Thanks for the 3 years of work ye men put in, but do the right thing for mayo football and bow out.

People need to settle down on the Cillian hype. He was there last year and barely started. He's really slowed down and has huge miles in the legs. If he comes back it will be as an impact sub, which will be nice but nothing major in terms of our chances of winning an All Ireland.

Mayo badly need a top class inside forward who has pace but is also good for 2-3 points from play per game and has an eye for goal. They are hard found. Ryan, who is our best forward, is not reliably consistent - every game he turns over a couple of balls and drops shots short - his hand pass after a turnover in the first half yesterday was just brainless.

@anne marie, I don't agree with the dig at Mayo football culture about Neary and turning him into a half. He has electric pace and no fear which badly needed but he is not the natural scoring forward that we need. I don't care if management play him at number 5 or number 10 as long as he keeps cutting teams open. Your point would be better made if you used Towey and Boland as an example of management not getting the best out of scorers. When you watch club football you see that they are the two best shooters in Mayo but we don't have a plan that allows us to maximize their scoring potential. Instead we have O'Shea, Carney, Touhy, Coen running around the arc with the ball but rarely ever taking on shots.

I agree with the general tone of calm from other posters. We are few players short but hopefully they can be found over the autumn and winter. I have no problem with Rochford leading the team next year, I think he is very astute and coaches like him are hard to find. I imagine there will be a change though.

Well said Green and Red - Time for a complete overall of the management team and make it fast - not a long drawn out process of reviews etc.
Although knowing our history - it will be messy, drawn out and played out in a media circus.

Craggy Boglands, with all respect to Joe Canney he wouldn't get a major club job here in Galway..
Whatever about Rochford staying on, mayo definitely need a complete clear out of back room personnel.
Probably need to move on from a lot of the players who have been there a while and get 6 or 7 young lads in and stick with them next year .

Yes I know Cillian has had alot of injuries and getting older . It's more the story of why he opted out at his age and others opting out also that's the worrying thing .

Also McHale stepping away was a red flag for this management team .

I think whatever management comes in next year there will be a lot of hard calls to be made, some of them maybe unpopular. For that reason I don’t think Andy Moran would be the man for the job as he would be too close to some of the players.

The bums on seats could be a big factor in particular last year and this one with the big drop offs. How much revenue has been lost. The county board will want to get the crowd back. It all points to a new set up...

I was reflecting today. When you think about it, when McStay talked about Mayo football as a pundit, his one big mantra he'd repeat was that Mayo teams traditionally have loads of possession but can't transfer it onto the scoreboard. So it's safe to assume that was one of his big goals when he became manager, namely make sure we convert and dont waste ball.

Could this be the reason why the team seemed to be terrified to shoot??

Agreed Done Deal, too soon for Andy. He's a young man and he is getting a good apprenticeship up in ulster, a few more years building up experience and maybe try win a senior club title with some team first and it will be his one day. A lot of his ex teammates are still playing so wait till they move on, too much of a conflict there

This management should have resigned after the Cork game in Limerick a couple of years ago when Mayo were 5 Points ahead and went on to lose .Terrrible result that day and they havent progressed but regressed

Clear the decks. Christ almighty, we have absolutely gone backwards. How much more evidence does one need? I said it numerous times that we were throwing the year away by not making changes to the setup, but we went with the same again & look where that got us. Let's throw away another season while we're at it.

Donegal are one of the so called eilte teams in the land. We had them by the short & curlies. We threw away the Connacht final against the "all time great" Galway team. The way I look at it, there is nobody special out there & we are regressing before our eyes. Armagh to me, are a proper team. But I don't any of the rest as special. So why do we allow ourselves to drop our standards?

Get a new team in. Attack attack attack & attack again. Get rid of the fear & bring back the passion. And by Christ, win, lose or draw the Mayo fans will applaud that. I certainly will. Sick of lads turning their back on shots. Sick of it. Back yourself & if you miss, go again & you'll get it the next time.

By that, I mean, I'm sick of lads turning down shots for fear of a telling off by management. Death by stats

Horan build s a team. Gets us to finals. Is he not the first name to be thinking of.

Was refreshing to see Dawson take on the shots yesterday while AOS and Ruane were in much better positions and turned back. Think this management will step away, No idea who will want the job but maybe consider the Mc Conville ticket from 3 years ago. Need some fresh ideas at the very least and a focus on underage progression to Seniors. Would like to see Boyler / Andy involved on some level. Granted they haven't the depth of experience but some coaching / selector roles perhaps

Craggy

Usually what happens is Horan builds a team and Rochford dismantles it. In that case are you ready for Rochford 3.0 in 4 years?

I duno lads on the view that the quality is there if the right mgt were in town, I don’t agree with that. At the outset of the year before a ball was even kicked, and just looking at the personnel in the squad, I knew there was severe limitations to the group

I don’t like naming individuals but there are multiple lads in the panel who are average club players. There are lads in the panel much talked about whose skill set is not inter county standard. There is literally no midfield to the level needed to win primary possession, I don’t know how many years we need to demonstrate this. There is one scoring forward available in Rod.

Accepted the team can perform to a higher level than finishing outside the last 12 but for me not much higher. I see a lot of that Mayo panel being a Div 2 standard.

Bonnie,

That McConville ticket was headed by Ray Dempsey, he put it all together, so if anyone deserves praise for that it’s him. On top of that, is there any man in Mayo that knows the club scene better then Dempsey, a big plus when trying to find new players. Not to mention he had Irelands leading Olympic sprint coach heading up the S&C side of it. If anything he was far more modern thinking then Rochford and McStay. But unfortunately I would think his direct approach and straight talking would have scared the CB to death. They needed someone to sing to their tune.

If Dempsey’s ticket was available tomorrow morning it would be extremely appealing given the success of McConville and James Burke in recent years.

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2025/06/16/austin-omalley-linked-with-task-of-reviving-mayo-football/

Quarter finals look set in tone if all strong favourites come through next weekend to avoid repeat matches

ARMAGH V KERRY
MONAGHAN V DUBLIN
MEATH v DONEGAL
TYRONE V GALWAY

@food4thought wouldn’t trust taht source, think he was the same fella who said cillian o’connor was fir before the all ireland final in 21

@ Green&Red thanks for the info, couldn't remember the full line-up. Remember being torn at the time, but was happy when Mc Stay got his shot.

Might not be a popular take but I believe that we could do with an outsider heading the management ticket. Something new

No more tickets. One man. 2 selector s like most countys. . Galway only talk Joyce. Donegal Jimmy. Dublin dessie. Armagh mcgeeney. Too much confusion in mayo. Enterprise management how do

One singer one song

Again either with respect the Boland s and Toweys problems are getting the ball , granted they can shoot but you can't carry non ball winners on the team.
For example I get great hope when we see the templates set by Donegal, Kerry, Armagh, a bigger team of more athletic chaps who can cover ground
And include a fullforward line all of whom can take frees .
.................Reape
Coyne.....Mchugh.....Hession
O Loughlin..McBrien...Loftus
.....Thornton.....Diarmuid
Neary.....Carr......Flynn
McHale.....Maheady..ROD

Matty Ruane is a viable option in halfforward line as his best footballs going forward

One last thing from yesterday massive credit to Mcbrien for job he did on Langan

There can only be one cock in the yard.

Four new players would make us much more competitive.
1. A fielding midfielder.
2. A physical corner back.
3. A kickpassing left footed left half back
4. A scoring left footed 13 corner forward.
That would lift us quite a bit performance wise.

@JP irwin and thornton for midfield, dawson could do a job at left half back and cian mchale for the left footed corner forward

Outside County Oisin McConville, Tony McEntee or Rory Gallagher.

Inside County Niall Heffernan, Ray Dempsey, Andy Moran ,Austin O'Malley or Sean Deane

Don't want Rory Gallagher anywhere near Mayo .

James horan

Can anyone tell me, had we a specific plan in place if we were playing with the breeze in the first half? 6 points in 35 minutes is old rules football, and the worst return of any team playing in all ireland or Tailtean at the weekend.
Why had we several players on match day panel that had not been hardened up with league football. We're they late discoveries?
Why was Callinan and DOC not used, any sub should be fit enough to be introduced for at least a half.
And imo, anyone who thinks we are going to win Sam under Rochford is in cloud cuckoo land. More players will walk away.
We have the players, no question there...

@Craggy boglands: "Galway only talk Joyce. Donegal Jimmy. Dublin dessie. Armagh mcgeeney."

Ehhh? That's simply not true.

Talk to anyone in Galway with a knowledge of football and Morris, Divilly & Graham will be mentioned with glowing praise for work being done. Similar or even higher for Donaghy, Gilligan & McKeever in Armagh. There's simply too much involved in coaching to a high level for one person to come close to doing it successfully on their own. They might not have held a profile outside of football circles as high as Rochford given he was a former manager, but within football some of those lads have the absolute highest of reputations and their work-loads will be the exact same whatever about profiles. Inside a camp the latter meaning nothing at all as long as it's a well run camp.

Even in Dublin talk to anyone about football and it's not Dessie they'll be chatting about, but not quite the same when it's Gavin, Gilroy and Fenton they're chatting about rather than the current backroom team.

Ontheditch. Your not wrong. We know a man that gets us to all Ireland final s but we prefer a man that can't get us to a preliminary quarter final. The mind boggles

Defensively we haven't been too bad this year. A crumb of comfort for us and the likes of Mchugh, Mcbrien, Coyne and Hession hopefully have their best days ahead of them.

I thought we did ok yesterday but our problems are still at the other end. 1-15 wins you very little in the new rules world. The same score yesterday as we put up in the Connacht final. One more point than the 1-14 we put up against Cavan. Granted we did better against Tyrone but the extra week off no doubt helped us in that game.

Apart from the solo and go we look every inch like a team still playing old rules football. You wouldn't notice much difference in us between now and a year ago. A baffling lack of interest it seems in the 2 pointers.

I have a bit of hope that some of these Under 20 forwards make it to senior level. There are a good few of them as well so you would hope that a few make it. Good luck to ye lads.

Finally lets hope we can get Tommy back on the pitch. Seems like the lad has no luck at all with injuries. Tommy and Davitt Neary off the bench in the last 20 minutes yesterday with the game getting stretched and we might well have got over the line.

Maigh eo Abu

@Tsu

You are 100% correct there. There are so many good mayo men in this county that could offer massive value to a management team in the future.

If we look at this way, James Horan has managed Ballintubber for 2 years, and Westport 1 year. Rochford never managed a Mayo club. Same with McStay. Yet they have spent more time managing the mayo team the anyone else. There is a certain lack of knowledge there.

And are we going to make the same mistake again, going for an Austin OMalley. How well does he know mayo football at the club scene? Maybe good maybe bad idk.

One thing I do think, if you didn’t have a Niall Heffernin or Ray Dempsey in the next management set up, in some capacity, then I think we are again missing a trick.

@Green and red absolutely spot on. Why would you accept failure. Cavan are in ahead of us and no disrespect to them got a hiding in other group games. We also went out yesterday with Division 2 teams. And if Donegal wanted to we would be div 2 as well. Shambles of a season. If Stephen Rochford is the answer I'm really not sure what the question is. Need a fresh approach and a young hungry knowledgeable manager. Hopefully one that can read the updated rule book as well

Cant be going back to Horan or Rochford again, they had their chance..twice and still couldn't get it done so time to move on..new young manager or indeed one whos won it and has experience and won't be dictated to..by county board selectors or players.

A friend of mine wrote this. The day after we are knocked out is always a tough one, but I think this puts it into some kind of perspective.

https://avrilgreham.ie/2025/06/16/the-road-is-long-but-so-are-we/

The problem is..and its clear as day, players aren't there at the moment. Now in few years could be different story but now..not on your nelly

Now that the dust has settled on another year and the sore head from the pints has passed its time to post in here.
The management have to go.
The Cavan game was the worst performance in living memory.The players salvaged some pride with the next 2 battling displays but it's time for a new voice and new ideas.
I'd be here all night posting reasons why they have to go....the reasons have been well discussed in here.
The new man needs to find a few players from the club championships.A midfielder and a scoring inside forward should be top of the list.
The manner of yesterday's defeat was sickening but in truth we have been well off the pace all year.
I don't think we are all that far away from the top table but we need a different game plan and a few new faces.

I really think county board will be putting Rochford front and centre next year again but backed up with a couple of new names maybe like McEntee or Austin OMalley.
Dawson could be our new Kevin McLoughlin. He has the cut of someone who has serious potential.

@Anee - Marie

That's a great article said your friend I said fair play . It really does put things in perspective.

It's really hard to take today and probably until the championship is over. I'm hoping Armagh do the 2 in a row .
The dust will settle eventually and we will go again as always next year .

Food4thought I thought your post was excellent and should give people on here plenty food for thought. Blaming Rochford for all our woes is amazing. 2 good performances under his watch this year and two fantastic attempts at ultimate glory in 2016 and 2017 not to mention a club title but no he is the source of all our problems according to some . So what do we throw at him. That Donegal were shite when he was involved. Donegal were shite after Jimmy left and now the messiah has returned and they are wonderful. So wonderful that they scraped over us after having a comfortable lead at half time after playing against the wind. So wonderful that they lost at home to Tyrone and were found wanting v Galway when the game was in the melting pot in AISF last year ( I like McGuinness and rate him but am sick of him being used as a stick to beat Rochford with ) So Rochford didn’t win Sam for us . Tell me who did since 1951. We haven’t really been too successful in winning the big one have we. I have no issue with a change of manager but I think Rochford deserves a bit more respect. He took risks in the past . Some worked Some didn’t. He set up the team very well in the last 2 games. Do we really believe we have better players than Tyrone or Donegal. We have incredibly honest guys who perform very well but does anyone on here think we have one forward in the top 10 in Ireland. Ryan wouldn’t be too far away when going well. And our midfield? Good enough does anyone think? Our backs were excellent yesterday but does anyone think any of them are all star material . Yet despite this the team played quite well against three heavy hitters in the last number of weeks. The pity really is their performances v Cavan and to a lesser extent Leitrim and Sligo

The post mortom on Mayo football has begun for the 74th year running…much of it runs along the same themes but does anything really substantial change?

We need to look medium to long term, at our coaching more specifically. Why don’t Mayo produce top class scoring forwards for example? Where and how can we improve. We shouldn’t settle for second best or in this case being knocked out at the group stages.

I fear though there are too many people with egos and self preservation at the highest levels who will never make the radical changes needed.

The county team is a representation of all our clubs together and as someone who attends a fair share of club games alarm bells have been ringing for a few years now. The standard of Mayo club football is poor right now and that’s reflected in our county team. You only have to look at the record of Mayo clubs outside the county in recent years.

What’s the answer or solution? I’m not smart enough to have the answer but a debate should be had within Mayo GAA governing circles. However it won’t, and this cycle or “House or Pain” will continue.

Lovely piece Ann- Marie. Well done to your friend Avril.

Kieran Donaghy.

Beautifully written Ann Marie and i suppose it just about sums it up .i saw corrick mention earlier that he was born in 1951 and it reminded me of a good neighbour I had who got me hooked on mayo football.He would tell myself and his son how he returned from England by boat to attend the 51 final and recall with extraordinary clarity the events of the day perfectly describing Padraig carney racing up the wing past him .in the lead up the 1989 final and the talk of the 38 year gap to 51 we couldn’t understand how anyone could remember that far back but the years go quickly and now it’s 36 years since that magical summer of 89 and I can remember that day so clearly and being directly behind the goal on the canal end as Larry finnerty rifled the ball to the net .another 30 years wait will be too long for a few of us on here

I loved that Avril piece. She truly gets it.Beautiful person.

Mayonaze: That’s a good one as would be Paul Galvin. I loved what he was doing with Wexford. I know there’s no vacancy but at some point in the future I’d consider those names for sure.

@Yew Tree….good post and I agree but you see, the major problem in Mayo as @Moyside so eloquently put it this morning is that the decision makers should no longer be the decision makers. So, having the those governing Mayo GAA to debate is a waste of time. And the delegates all rowing in behind them in Knockranny two weeks ago. It’s a flippin pantomime.

@to win just once you say what I feel in the top of the feed. Thank God I don’t have to speak for myself. I’m too exhausted after yesterday.

Very nice article Anne Marie that you posted and the article embedded in the article.
I really want to see good player assessment next year for the new rules.
We kept around players in the middle third that are a bit of everything utility players.
The new rules make such players less important now. I don't see any place for a player that isn't strong in any particular aspect of the game but more of an okay at everything type of player.

If the CB could do one thing right this Summer is appoint our management team before Club championship. Find out quickly if Kevin and Stephen are staying on for the 4th year, there doesnt seem to be appetite from the public for another year of this management and if not quickly get on with the process of appointing a management team and not letting it roll on like last time in 2022.

Haven’t commented on the game yesterday. The one thing that really annoys me about it was that it finished like last year against Dublin and it seems we learned nothing from that heartbreak. On the Mayo support, there was a sizeable Mayo crowd in the terrace where I was. And loud enough too in the last 10 minutes. Of course we were outnumbered so maybe it wasn’t heard.

At least last year we were still in it .as a matter of interest what would have been the penalty for interfering with Pattons last kickout

@Anne-Marie, A beautiful piece by Avril, thanks for sharing it.

On another note. I thought referee Paul Faloon was brilliant yesterday. He could have blown for another 20 frees for each team but he ignored the cheap ones and the ones trying to be engineered. Made for a far better spectacle than endless frees. Despite being pissed off with the outcome I take my hat off to Mr. Faloon.

@Joe G

Well said he had a great game in fairness .

Mayo would really well in getting a really good forwards coach for 2026.

I don't know how many times yesterday I was shouting to take on the shot. The amount of times a player recycled the ball was infuriating.

I know its something that Mayo have been accused of but they just don't score enough and nobody will tell me those lads can't kick a point.

@to win just once the stats dont lie and state ZERO Connacht Titles and zero league titles with one of the best Mayo teams from 2016 to 18, after we won 5 titles in a row and then the current panel have delivered zero after two in three years previously. Time to move on and cut the crap of oh so close and he won ONE match this year against a team who had a 6 day turnaround.

Pull hard. Do you honestly think Austin o malley or mcentee could work with Rochford s negative style of football. Not a hope. He has achieved nothing in donegal or mayo. Time to move on. It was a joint enterprise that has not worked. Don't waste another year of the players lives on negative football. They only have so many playing years.

I think one thing is critical guys..look at the trust mcguinness has in Murphy.. he sets the standards and the respect all the players have is there to see. If you have a manager who the players would run through a wall for youre in business.. Do Mayo have that about them, would they run through a wall for mcstay or Rochford..I have my doubts. Im sure they respect them but this is a different level. Think of micko in kerry, Boylan, Harte, Kernan Gavin..you see what I mean..those teams under those guys would eat you alive. You need a guy who knows man management, knows how to make guys tick and create a winning mentality. Let's be clear it also helps to have the footballers of course...can't fashion them out of thin air.

Dessie Dolan on the Sunday game going out of his to highlight how well prepared mayo are, he actually said it twice, and how disappointing it is for mcstay and roch. Dessie obviously backing his former sunday game colleague.

We’re not cute enough. On the last kickout. Pull someone to the ground, even without the ball around midfield. Take the black, so what. Get your men back and ready to defend.

I would like to repeat something mentioned in a post above before we get too carried away by Jim McGuinness and Michael Murphy - Donegal only beat us in the last twenty seconds of the game after the hooter had sounded after leading by three points at halftime and playing with the breeze in the second half.
Does that put McGuinness head and shoulders above Stephen Rochford? Donegal’s escape to victory did owe much to Murphy. But a poster above reminded us that Langan was shackled during the game (something so fluid it went unnoticed), and we established that Donnacha McHugh muffled Murphy until he went off injured. Donegal don’t have great bragging rights after yesterday.

Tsudohim. Of course other countys have plenty people of knowledge in the background but that's where they stay. In the background. Not so in mayo with the last 3 years. Clean the slate. Get a few lads back that have left for whatever reason s. The championship results speak for themselves. Have you forgotten about the sligo. Leitrim and cavan game s. Awful

I, like many on here, feel that McStay and co have ran their course. I have no doubt they had the best interests of Mayo football at heart and poured everything into it, the revisiting of history with respect to Rochford 16-18 I find infuriating, we went toe to toe with the best team ever and people talk about no Connacht titles, I have no idea who won Connacht those years but I can tell you about those All Ireland finals. It can’t be players in one scenario and coach in a second scenario.

What is missing I feel though in a lot of commentary anout replacing McStay and co is the strategy piece. What are Mayo aiming to achieve next year, the next five years, the next ten years? Where is the blueprint for what is success?

As a county it is surely for GAA to be accessible and enjoyable for all in whatever capacity they want, junior B, underage, promotion of girls football.

Beyond that there are many layers and many inputs required, finance, clubs, coaching, facilities, schools etc and whilst acknowledging there is a huge amount of tremendous work done, there is a lot more that can be done.

When the above is addressed then the senior teams winning all irelands in both ladies and mens will be the obvious answer. People talk of money as a barrier, I think this is ridiculous, the worldwide population of Mayo supporters and some generous benefactors would address any funding issues but the purpose needs to be clearly mapped.

The issues can be resolved and the blueprint will be for Mayo to win Sam playing an attacking exciting fast pace game. Who then brings a “ticket” to set up and satisfy this goal. If a candidate doesn’t believe the players exist in Mayo to win Sam next year then move to the next candidate. McGuinness has every Donegal player, and the fans believing they can win Sam. We need that borderline arrogance in our footballing talents and need a leader in place who beats that drum into players until they too believe it.

Jesus swallow, you can't compare Rochford and Mcguinness..for heavens sake.

I don't know would Austin O Malley be good for us ? Yes he's won it with Cuala and that's an amazing stat .

Though inter county management is a different ball game .

I'd like an outsider someone not afraid to make the calls, someone to stand up to county board if needs be , someone to install the life and belief back into this team to be able to shoot for points. In fairness young Dawson is a great find someone who doesnt let himself get bullied around the place .

I felt bad Fergal Boland you should be given at least 15 minutes if coming on as a sub not under 5 minutes how insulting.

Lots of talents coming up though it feels awful today but under 20s so promising and minors best of luck to them tommorow .

* Best of luck Sunday I mean!

@Craggy boglands: Two very different points being (wrongly) merged in to one there.

I'm not for a moment defending anyone around our performances (the former players themselves have articulated issues around it far better and with far more insight than anyone here possibly can), I'm simply pointing out an error in what was said.

Those counties have every bit as much chat about their backroom teams as anyone would... right up until a member of that backroom team steps in as an interim replacement due to health issues, has a former player highlight them specifically as the person responsible for this (much maligned) style of play and is then spoken about as a potential to step in due to an uptick in performances in two games which will always send it into overdrive.

Suggesting any issue there is down to numbers in a backroom or specific titles, "No more tickets. One man. 2 selector s like most countys", is simply incorrect. The full depth & makeup of a ticket to cover all areas needed is vital to maximising results. It's important to address the actual problems and seek actual improvements, noise around stuff like titles or arbitrary limits on numbers doesn't move a single needle on performance in a positive direction.

Magpie, McGuinness is a dedicated, inspirational manager - yes. He got the job done yesterday. That’s as much as I know.
I think your point was about inspiration and perhaps that our team was uninspiring. Fair enough.
I remember a great post the other day saying that if we got the win yesterday the poster would sign himself up fully to the Mayo hype wagon again.

Yes, it’s ifs and ands.

I’m a little miffed about the McGuinness legend being used with no tangible results to belittle Mayo. But I accept that you see it differently and you are entitled to.

I understand swallow, I suppose after reading his book and watching documentary on him I loved the way he took over a shambolic team. A laughing stock and made them All Ireland champions in 2 years., through various methods.

Hes done it again over last 2 seasons. And whos to say they won't go all the way again..I still think Tyrone will do it though.
Mcguinnes does have an aura still tho..no mayo manager has ever had that unfortunately..where everyone , player and fan alike believe him.

Great response, Magpie. Thank you. We are allowed to have our heroes and people we admire.

We had more backroom team nearly than players for god sake. Did you hear tuamstar earlier on about canny our so called forward s coach. Who brought him in. Corofin connected. The galway man said clearly that he wouldn't get a club job in galway. So who's ruling the roost because Rochford is the man that worked with him in corofin. Do you think he made a difference.

Thanks Swallow, now I didn't always like the style of football especially in 2011..he improved it in 2012, but it was his dont care how it looks.. this is the style that will win us the all ireland. Sin e an sceal .

@Craggy boglands: Again, altering job titles or arbitrarily limiting numbers in a backroom team wouldn't fix having a wrong person in place. There's a problem in that scenario alright, but it's one the titles and random limits suggested doesn't come close to fixing.

What a blog this is! I have to say I learn things here, including in our exchange about McGuinness, Magpie. I see from your comment that he has ruthlessness too, a trait he mentioned yesterday in relation to his team. I’ll look at Donegal from a distance (with a bit of a glare) over the next month or two and see if I can learn some more about him and them.

Despite agreeing with some of the negative comments we were still only a point off beating the early season favourite. If all the gripes were true we’d be 20 points off. Donegal are still capable of winning it although the extra game will likely do them in.
I’d like to see new management but the risk is year 1 rarely leads to success. It took McGeeney 10 years and 2 years ago they were still labelled chokers. I’d prefer a 2 year wait with some serious talent coming through. The decision on the Connaught league was a negative.
Re the various gripes, I think the no 1 attribute to coach is 2 footedness. McCurry is an excellent left footed CF but can score regularly off his right, same with Clifford. McGuigan maybe not as much for Derry. We have a good crop coming up but that could be temporary and unless we coach the most important skills in early it will lead to more of the same. We have 2 speedsters Conroy and Neary but can they score points on the run off the weak foot, not so sure.
On fielders, the only dominant player we have is Aido who is thought to be not mobile enough for a while now. So he’s an option for two 10 minute spells hoping he stays on. The modern game is more about breaks, we only see a few clean catches by any team in each game. Galway the exception with Cein Darcy who doesn’t even line out in midfield. They have tactical blockers who make the channel for him to run so he can spring high unhindered. Still Galway aren’t consistently dominant and even dropped POTY Conroy and their goalie. Joyce needs to win an AI soon or his head is on the block. There’s alternating 10 mins of aerial dominance in just some games and the rest is all fairly random, it’s about the breaks. What’s more important for goalies is finding clever options to wing players. Even Cluxton is having problems in some games with the new rules.
Armagh will likely win the AI because of Rafferty who is a leader. Most teams have gone back to the old style stay back goalie. Cluxton never ventures out, he’d get robbed if he did. Rafferty is worth a few points every game and Morgan in most games too.

The point is. Who was calling the shots because that was another brutal appointment. I've never seen our forward play so clueless and lack of confidence

That’s for sure. Our forward play hasn’t been good, at all.

@ MayoMayo1…good post and I agree about your point on funding. There’s a massive source but Mayo GAA has never tapped into it. Another major failing in their part. I genuinely cannot understand it. Who are these leaders of Mayo GAA. They’re so far off being right for the positions it’s comical. The real sickener is, our hopes and dreams are very much in their hands and they’ve made a feckn shambles of things ..let’s not forget what James Horan said a few weeks ago. He used the word ‘farcical’. That’s really damning. He also said he doesn’t understand why there’s not as much ‘heat about it’. It’s time for club delegates to stand up and enforce real change. How many more years do we have to put up with it.

I agree with the poster who said teams are not just a one man management outfit but they also have an important set of coaches in the background. But it appears to me that Mayo do not really have one man in charge. It has appeared all along as a two man show with the current set-up. If I am correct how did that affect the players - for better or for worse?

Some sporting codes have co-captains and joint managers. I believe it does not work. One person runs the show and the coaches are on the next level. We need an external new manager who has proven credibility working with guys with local club and county knowledge. They can call the shots and not be influenced by the County Board or local politics. Ruthless is a word thrown around - nothing wrong with that either. But then again would Mayo County Board want a character like that in their territory? At least it is worth a try.

Still downcast after that heartbreaking defeat. So a few quick thoughts. Immediately after the game, I was reminded of the Paul Simon song "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover", as Mayo seem to have come up with 50 ways to lose matches. I can't believe that some want to retain the present management, possibly with Rochford in charge. A change is needed. These are the cold facts and please, don't anyone mention some good performances in the League. The Championship is where it's at and is all that matters, in which we played 5 matches. We limped to wins over Leitrim and Sligo and lost 3 matches, including at home to Cavan, who were subsequently walloped by Donegal and Tyrone. You simply cannot defend that record. Players take some of the blame, but the buck stops with the management-they simply have to go.

@Willie Joe. I completely agree with your summation-we need radical change and the appointment of a Director of Football. Would it be too much to hope for that members of the County Board would tune in to this blog and take note of the increasing groundswell of support for such an appointment among Mayo supporters? Doing nothing is definitely not an option.

One thing I noted when Mickey Harte took over Louth, it was the first time the club politics was binned and all current players had to requalify for their place. Before that it was either a manager from the North or South ( I know Louth is small) who would predominantly pick from clubs in his region. Not saying that an outside voice is the answer but it brought a sea change in football that has Louth still in the mix while we lick our wounds. Who would have predicted that 5 years ago

Totally agree with Green and red comments above, right down to of James Horan is not the answer well current set up is miles off, even in his second spell which was hampered by Covied he got us to 2 all Irelands, id rather be there with a shout than gone before 1/4 finals, there is no doubting that are best years were under Horan, I would argue the good years Rochford had were on the back of what Horan built before, we need to rebuild are team with the prowess they had in Horan era and we are not getting that with this lot, full clear out needed.

Magpie
I would argue that Horan had that aura........I often didnt understand it because he made alot of errors (Caffereky 2014, Freeman 2013) but people seemed to have a unwavering faith in him......and still do...its almost like football didnt exist in Mayo until Horan became manager.......I suspect he will try and come back in the future also

https://www.westernpeople.ie/sport/gaa/delegates-frustrated-with-mayo-review-process_arid-30911.html

In fairness to some club delegates they did speak up last year about the review process and a unhappy Mayo camp , had the CB acted on what the Garrymore delegate had said at meeting we wouldnt have lost a number of important players.

No im convinced Horan did not have that Aura, he was as good as we had for sure but not in the league I mentioned, if he was, mayo would have an All Ireland won between 2012 and 21.

If James ever decides to return in some capacity, I, for one, would be upbeat about it. There's a perception circulating that managers are ten-a-penny, to be found at the drop of a hat. There won't be many breaking the door down to be first in line lads. A long term project for cool heads is the order of the day.

Did I miss this comment? All we had to do with 5 seconds left was to pull the old Andy Moran stunt. Throw a second ball onto the field and delay the kickout.

So much to say but damn what’s the point , we all want change from top to bottom but who’s going to be the replacements from board level to management. Seems pretty obvious our first mistake this season was to sweep the review controversy under the carpet and carry on as if there were no issues .

Our second mistake was to not get people round a table and air out the problems that eventually made their way online for everyone to see . That all could have been avoided and that could also drag on for a while yet . With the benefit of a brief chat on Sunday pre game with one of the personalities involved I personally was taken back and my opinion whilst not completely overturned , it was very obvious that there are genuine concerns regarding finances.

Mayo GAA project is in a very vulnerable position and we desperately need correct decisions to be made . Wrong moves over the pre 2026 season could see us in catch up mode for a long long time imho .

On the game itself we were ok , we could of snuck a draw or whatever but the common feature of not been able to control the vital stage of the game , kick the tee away , start a row , mark every man on the pitch , it’s seconds bloody seconds think of something , some form of mischief , anything . Morahan was well roasted for it though , nowt ya can do about that .

Our support has really dwindled, an objective of the cb should also be to try win back the bandwagon ,we need them . Mcguiness is not to be admired too much but he’s an absolute genius at playing the crowd , he has the whole county behind him , look at what he says in interviews last two games , he knows the crowd factor , modernisation of spectator sport has now entered Gaelic games , Armagh crowd are worth a couple of points , Galway the same , Donegal too . It won’t win you an all Ireland but it could tip the scale very easy in a big game that’s tight .

On a side note Murphy roaring into mchales face was horrible but in an odd way I so wish we had that in us . Even in our last era which was supposed to be steely and it was but we lacked that mean ruthless horrible streak . If you go back to last week and read the articles youll sniff a weakness in keegans piece bragging about how Donegal / mayo players have a great friendly relationship off the pitch despite the needle , I’ve no problem with the reality of that but notice it’s always us that have to mention that type of shite , like we’re a biteen afraid .

Mayo football culture needs to be more confident and proud , we accept too much bullshit . As harsh as it sounds too many lads dining out on failure too . It’s not a good look .

Fir next year :
1.Move most the over 29s to the bench.
2. Cut the players that patently don't suit the new rules.
3. Bring in young, physical don't care for reputation defenders like Matthew Gordetsky, Darragh Staunton, Jack Ferguson. This is to make up for the fact we went so far down the route of the light, pacey attacking defender.
4. Kickpassing half backs.
5. Somehow get one fielding midfielder like Seamus Howard with weight on his frame.
6. Consider likes of Jack Carney to wing back to make up for our lack of fielding by selecting a tall 5.
7. Left footed 13 free taker like Cian McHale or other.
8. A whole tranche of young players down to u19, 20,21,22.
9. Expert scouting group puts together the possible players for mgmt. That's their job. Too often we just roll out 98% of the same panel.
10. Throw the league and Connaught championship and focus on speed, power and attacking plays coaching. Be top of the ground ready for group stages.
8.

It’s interesting there wasn’t much said about it the changeover in S+C this year but always seems to have fingers pointed at it re fitness/new player development

Can anyone honestly look at Dublin, Donegal, Kerry Armagh and Galway and say we're on the correct SnC?
The eye test shows those counties that look muscular and a few kg heavier than our lads.
The taller players like Diarmuid O'Connor Kerry Michael Langan, Rian O'Neill, Peadar OCofaigh Beirne are able to spring off their legs and are agile.
Our taller players are stuck to the ground, slim and slow. We've not seen the u20 midfielders come through to senior, all of them generally a tall, slim build and in club football.
You can watch someone in how they run and just know athletic and powerful or not.
When I watch our players run lots of them the trailing leg is not fully trailed straight to get a little bit extra distance in the stride. Watch how the Donegal players were leaning forward and really driving. If you freeze a photo that trailing leg will be straight at some point. This is why we need someone like Daniel Kikgallon to come in and develop our running speed with drills, flexibility, plyometrics, strength training, running technique work
We are desperate slow and yet we're pulling ftom the game genetic pool of athlete profiles pretty much as other counties.
We also have a good track record in athletics with our clubs.

Magpie, agree he made errors, all managers will and tactically got caught out as well especially in 2012 AIF,
He may need to pick a back room team carefully but he had more Aura than any other manager we have had, Mayo football may have existed before him but it was at its best under him ,teams had are full respect under him as we played a great brand of football.
Defensively we paid the price for that shipping goals, but 3 man rule will have changed that set up

Sean.....far too much acceptance of failure in Mayo, compared with other counties. You know I'm saying that for years. Genuine and sometimes harsh criticism is very often ridiculed by many and we continue to go round and round in a perpetual circle of failure. I agree so much with you and what some others are saying, a massive change is required this Autumn in Mayo, but we need a leader or leadership group to emerge from somewhere to demand that. Horan has been spoken about alot in recent days. I think his real value to Mayo over the coming years can be a leading role overseeing structural change. A position endorsed by the co board who can continue in the roles (i'd love to see drastic change here but let's be realistic, that's only wishful thinking), but essentially allowing James to manage the direction Mayo GAA moves in, which would involve him appointing a team around him. I think he would be an ideal selection. I pray it happens. I don't think we'll see Sam, Sean unless real, genuine change like this occurs. Real action, not just wishy washy half arsed promises.

@Green&Red

You're not the first man to mention Ray Dempsey as a potential next manager and also lamenting the CB overlooking him for McStay...yet every poster has subsequently failed to mention, that immediately following this, he took on the hot seat with the LIMERICK footballers (his only foray to date into IC management) and was ran after a mere 5 league games by the players following an abysmal run of results - after the previous manager Billy Lee had just led them from Div 4 to Div 2.

It was widely reported at the time that he had lost the dressing room after players found him a huge step down on Lee with regard to organisation, professionalism and man management - so I'm not exactly sure how he's in any way in the mix.

@JP I believe the claremorris man Conor Finn left at the start of the season but it was never formally announced by management for some reason. Agreed development of some players needed. There may be a good athletics track record but the game demands are different as you know.