Good luck to our u20’s. Be warned…Roscommon have improved and this is a banana skin. If we bring the focus and energy required then we have the ability to win.

Roscommon have improved however energy levels should be a big difference for Mayo when you consider in a first game for 14 days while it's the rossies 4th game in 21 days.

Minor/U17 semi final is also covered by TG4 on Friday I believe

Wow. Look at the rainbow! Lovely snap.

Lose on Sunday and it's Donegal/Armagh winner, Tyrone and Cavan...
Win on Sunday and it's Donegal/Armagh loser, Dublin and Derry...

No hiding after this!

The Connacht winner and Ulster runners up always seem to be magically drawn in the same group!

Kerry with the piss weak group again, is it any wonder they have so many All Irelands when they never get a hard route.

Kerry must be busting their holes laughing after the draw.........again.

@JoeG agree another handy draw for them..!

Farce

Leinster winner got a lovely draw. Maybe they forgot the Dubs can’t win it.

Here we go with the tedious few days of soft talk about whether it's better to lose the connacht final...

Can't stand that soft talk, and besides group 1 is another group of death. Groups 2 and 3 are a joke, honestly can't remember Kerry ever having to go and tough route to championship. Clifford's could take the next month off

Monaghan will top their group

Kerry own the GAA I’m convinced

The biggest joke is it looks on paper like 6 of the quarter finalists will be from Group 1 and Group 4.

This would mean repeat fixtures and teams playing eachother (including league) for possibly the 3rd time this year...What a mess of a draw

Once again kerry get a soft draw. On top of the softest provincial championship. Its very easy to breed winners when there surrounded by counties who play hurling. It’s a joke

Some draw for the two of us...
Kerry can go on holidays for a week or so now

Win on Sunday will be our only chance of Silverware and possibly Galways too !!!
If we are to get beaten. Let's go down swinging

@My Ball fully agree there go all out on Sunday throw kitchen sink at them as they say !

Group 4 is savage... don't want to be in it at all.

G1 or G4, Derry and Cavan most likely to be eliminated. We would end up playing Tyrone or Armagh in a preliminary Qtr. Final worst case. Wonder is it still a week to the Quarter Final after Pre-Lim.

Personally I prefer the toughest group stage draw. More character building (and entertaining).

For Galway though I think I'd prefer easy draws, as they should be more worried about attrition atm.

@FrostTHammer: Something to be said for having a potential path through the knock-outs where you can't draw a Galway, (1 of Donegal/Armagh) or Dublin. That'd be 3 of the top 5 or 6 avoided if possible until a final. With hopefully a couple of others knocking each other out along the way.

The biggest question would be how might Derry might bounce back if they get some of the injuries cleared up. Could make a case for them to fizzle out from here or to come back storming at top speed. 50/50 call for me, really hard to know with them. A real chance of any side in that Group 4 ending up bottom with a touch of misfortune or a couple of injuries between now and June.

Can anyone confirm this? It is based on how the pairings from last year workedt out, but I don't know if the sequence carries through to this year.
If we win on Sunday, we have the Dubs in Castlebar in round one, next is away to Derry, last is a neutral venue against Armagh/Donegal. If we lose, we are home to Cavan in the 1st round, then away to Tyrone and then neutral venue to Armagh/Donegal.

Group 4 is being over-stated. It will be the high profile group because of the names but people are already forgetting that Dublin were just beaten by Meath - a division 2 team! And Derry were hammered by Donegal. The other group will have the Ulster winners - likely Donegal - and a Tyrone team who are well capable of winning the All Ireland, much more than Dublin in my opinion. Then is down to who is better between Cavan and Derry. They are both division 2 teams now and neither won a game in Ulster. There's not much between them.

Louis, ya that's it

I think so Louis

@Louis Gunnigan: Yup.

In both cases our 2nd game of the Group Stage we'll be going in with a 2 week break and our opponents (Tyrone or Derry) coming in with 1 week from back to back games (due to them playing an Ulster Finalist in the opening game). Not a huge factor, but slightly helpful (probably more impactful for sides reaching a pQF with 4 games in 5 weekends or 5 games in 6 weekends a nasty demand when the stakes are so high).

https://www.gaa.ie/article/gaa-master-fixtures-for-2025-published

Omg. Why oh why are the genius s at croke Park devaluing the provincial final s by making the draw before the provincial final s. We now know the premonitions and if team s lost there provincial final s is it deliberately to avoid other team s. In mayo s case there's probably a debate right now that we are probably better off losing the connaught final. Not that I would ever entertain that idea but the gaa have completely messed this up. Big time

Do 3 teams out of 4 go through again?

Yes

@Gizmobobs: Yeah and the pQF/QF week on week on week stuff. Exact same structure as last year, then all change next year with the Sigerson style setup instead of Round Robin.

Danke folks, just seen the link there with it. Super so could lose our next 3 games, draw the 4th and plough on to the preliminarys, what a set up :)

I think we have to forget about the draw.
We (and Galway) will be in very difficult groups no matter who wins on Sunday.

There's silverware there to be won,concentrate on that.The All Ireland series is a different competition and the way the draw has gone means winning or losing the Connacht final has no bearing on what we might do in the group stages.

Also if we can't get out of the group stages we've no business being in the knock out stages anyways !

With respect FW I totally disagree bar local pride it’s completely useless and not worth risking one hard challenge over . Play a second string . Not missed a Connacht final in my lifetime bar Covid and I honestly don’t think I’ll travel Sunday in protest over the shit structure of the championship

Trot im afraid the GAA has killed the golden goose people are copping on and wont pay in to dead rubber matches when you can lose 2 or 3 games and still make it through to the next round

Take it one game at a time.
All on here have little hope of Mayo winning Sam, what better way of examining our worth than to be in a difficult group.

I take all points on board but the crux of my point is now there is no real reward for winning your province , rossies nearly as well off if not better . Provincials sadly will have to be ditched , it will die a slow death anyway , it will become like the league in the context of it’s just prep for championship unless your Kerry of course as they always seem to be rewarded

Galway and Mayo will progress to the knock out stages regardless of the result Sunday and how hard the groups are talked up. Cavan and Derry should finish bottom.

Ideally win Connacht bring momentum and confidence.

Kerry will be happy with their group but let's not forget they needed extra time to get past Cork so how good are they really?

The real winners are Monaghan. Real upset not to beat Donegal but they'll not top their group as it's the easiest possible group they could get.

It's a farcical structure. Doesn't say much for the leadership of the Gaa. Mayo or galway will end up in the very same place as Derry who were knocked out in the preliminary round. The mind boggles. Yes Sean why bother going to game s that when you win you still end up in the same place as a team that was beaten week s ago

We need to stop bellyaching re Kerry or anyone else getting so-called easy draws. The idea that Kerry have won so many All-Irelands because of this is farcical. We can frame this any way we want; get an "easy" draw and arrive at a quarter-final undercooked or get a "hard" draw and arrive battle hardened. Let's make the positive choice. There are games to be won and the time is now.

This time last year Barry McCambridge was just another decent inter-county player. By the end of the season he became a superstar. There is no reason why a few of our lads cannot achieve this - although inept management will certainly not help. Seize the day.

Why on earth do they do the draw for the group stages before provincial finals are played. We are now better off if we lose. That’s impossible for players to ignore. Load of bollox. Either way it is going to be a rotten draw. Should have the capacity to beat Cavan and Derry but every other game will be a huge battle.

If you were McStay now you would definitely need to see a Connaught title come home because I can’t see us getting past a QF now.

@Green&Red: To help with logistics. It was a request from counties, including our own, when the housing/hotel crisis was leading to games where teams were struggling to organise away hotels given peak holiday season and minimal prep time.

Despite the main goal of helping logistics, we sadly find ourselves in a position where the day & time of the games aren't normally released early enough to actually help properly. So all the downside with minimal of an up.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41623594.html - Good overview of the situation/mess.

You’ll 100% be there Sean, your hate for Galway will drive you on. If we are not good enough to get out of either group then so be it, you’ve to dance with the girls in the hall.

@WJ is this going to become a Mayo GAH blog shortly,?

Takes a bit of pressure off the game from a fan's perspective. Obviously want to win the title, but I'm not sure either group makes too much of a difference on how we'll fare.

Won't miss the prelim QFs when they're gone.

Clare if we can’t get out of the group stages then not only have we no business being in the knockout stages because we couldn’t actually be in the knockout stages

From a supporters perspective I'm disappointed with our draw.

The prospect of a first ever meeting with Dublin in the Championship would be akin to Mayos visit in 2019.

2 years in a row with no D1 teams in our group.

Will the Rossie supporters travel well to Killarney ??

Yerra

@1985 obviously yeah .

Great news for all posters here: The Guardian has an article - 17 Ways to Look after your Brain. One of the recommendations is to ‘Create a Magnificent Obsession’.

I think we can all feel smug here - we’ve been doing this since childhood, and it’s second nature to us now.

We will know Sunday I guess. Are we turned on by the challenge of the Dubs coming to town and a tough trip to Derry? Or would we rather a no win visit by Cavan, and a trip to a half empty Healy Park we can hide away in?

Sunday is all about attitude for me. We need to want to win and make Galway match our desire. This is a damn fine Galway team and there's no shame losing to them, but we need to make them find first gear to do it.

Laughing my arse off catcol..?

Some draw, win or lose v Galway on Sunday and it's still a very tough group, is it a marginally better to lose the Connacht final ?
I agree with the views here, Kerry seem to always get an wmeasier route.

Dublin coming to town would really kick off our championship,imagine the momentum if we were to beat Galway and then get one over Dublin.

2-9 to 3-4 up HT in the Connacht U20 final. We were totally dominant early on, leading by 1-7 to 0-1 but the Rossies have come roaring back into it. The second and third goals they got were very poor ones from our perspective. All to play for now.

The Rossies the real winners in Connacht. Hammered in a Connacht semi-final and are rewarded with the handiest group out of all the Connacht sides. Make it make sense!

Kerry have some luck with these draws. In with no Division 1 sides again. The same as last year.

I was wondering over the past few weeks why pundits and former players were raving about Donegal & Galway, both teams will be hampered by the tough group games while Kerry will sail through.

If the Gaa are trying to keep supporters away from these games there going the right way about it.
Season ticket holders treated like shite.
30 quid for a sideline ticket.
The calender and structure is a farce.
So Roscommon (who Galway hammered) are now going to be in an easier group than Galway.
How does that make any sense?
This round robin nonsense and all rushed off to be over by July is a load of muck.
I've been supporting Mayo for a long long time and never seen as little interest for a Connacht final with Galway as I've seen this week.
Any competition that rewards losing loses all credibility.
Am I right in thinking a team can lose 3 championship games but still win the All Ireland?
That's not a championship.
That's a money making exercise

Lads there's no big conspiracy.. It's just the luck of the draw.

Playing only D2 teams will not benefit Kerry as was shown against Armagh last year when we ran out of legs.

Yes remember last year where it was argued that we'd be better off losing the Connacht final. We did and Galway went into the group of death. Turns out both AI finalists came through that same group. Management speak, I know, but take one game at a time and see where you end up

Roscommon have actually found themselves in an easier group than Mayo and Galway.

Agreed 100% You Three

It reeks of soft talk and making excuses ahead a possible defeat talking about preferring to lose a game. Besides with 3 getting through from those groups you should be getting through them anyway. Has done Galway and Armagh no harm being in group of the death the past 2 years, battle hardened them if anything

Sunday is our all Ireland for now, a chance for silverware and putting the brakes on your biggest rival as they seek a 4 in a row on our patch. Sunday is all that matters right now. For this group and this management team i think the whole season hinges on winning it

Spórt TG4 are streaming this evening's Connacht MFC semi-final against Galway on their YouTube channel so I'll be able to embed it here on the blog.