Well done Tooreen. Hopefully there's one more big performance in them. Best of luck in the final.

Final Whistle pod from Castlebar up on Patreon now.

Congrats Toreen. Would be great to see them win it now.

Congratulations Tooreen on a fine win

Brilliant win today for Tooreen, fair play to them. Really showed their worth in the second half and I hope they can go all the way now.

Gosh, it's a sign of the times to see so few comments on the football. Or maybe it's just a sign of the time of year!

Today was enjoyable and it was great to see a few newer, younger faces get a good run out. Darragh Beirne was my MOTM, but honorary mentions for Tommy Conroy who looked lively (great to see him back), Seamus Howard and Cian McHale, I also thought Liam Golden put in a very solid shift after a long season. Plenty of faces yet to return too.

It's been said many times that it's been a bit of a slog since 2021, but today genuinely felt like the quiet turning of a page into a new era in a way that the last change in management didn't quite - and I mean no offence in the world to them by that, just that today felt like the passing of the baton, if you will, to a new generation with a new perspective. Not that the manager was in any way quiet on the sideline! Which was refreshing in and of itself, and it was good to hear Andy encouraging players to take on shots, and encouraging them not to worry if they missed.

Today wasn't spectacular, but it was satisfying enough, and there was enough there to sow lots of seeds of optimism for supporters. Listening to what we have heard in interviews from Andy recently, you get the feeling that he's really trying to pull the county together again. The meet and greet was a nice touch, and, you get a sense, the first step in rebuilding that bond with supporters that has been effectively stamped out over the last seven or eight years.

I dunno, without wanting to jump on any hype train, I just have a feeling that on this rollercoaster of Mayo football, the next couple of years are going to lift us out of that dip we've been in, faster than we might anticipate.

Darragh Beirne slotted in like an old hand in that game today and like yourself Ann Marie I was also impressed with Seamus Howard and Cian McHale in the Second Half. Tuohy will also have benefited from the outing. Credit to offaly for sending west a very competitive side.
In terms of style of play, I thought mayo mixed it up well. Once the two pointer chance was set up, they took the posts on. The return may not hit the statistic we'd like but ther were very few occasions when having a go was the wrong option.
I think Towey deserves a mention also for his tireless work rate and good vision.
We got lucky with the weather but a great turn out, a very appreciative audience getting to support a worthy charity by attending a lively football game.

Didn’t get to watch the game in full but what I did see I was pleased to see some nice moments from Darragh Beirne, Michael Plunkett, Seamus Howard and Nathan Moran. Certainly gives some optimism ahead of league starting

Was anybody at the Development game? There’s a report in Mayo news with Tom Lydon and Cathal Keaveney the standout scorers. I’d be particularly interested to hear how Niall Hurley and Ronan Clarke are getting on? Clarke is a player we’ve seen little of in a Mayo shirt since 2022 but I’m convinced he has a high ceiling if we can get him back on track

I thought Darragh Beirne showed plenty to get Mayo fans excited about his potential, but I’d still add a note of caution — he’s very young, and he’ll need time to physically develop and adjust to the demands of inter‑county football. Hopefully people give him the patience he needs, because it’ll be a few seasons before he’s fully conditioned for that level.

By contrast, players like Diarmuid Duffy (U20 2025) and Sean Morahan (U20 2024) look to have taken another step forward this year, and I can genuinely see both of them pushing hard for starting spots in 2026.

Keeping Tommy Conroy fit is absolutely vital as well. He showed yesterday exactly what we’ve been missing — especially for the second goal, where his pace and power left his man behind before setting Aidan up.

Overall, you’d have to be happy with how yesterday went. It’s only a pre‑pre‑season game, but if things start to click, we could have a seriously strong outfit over the next few seasons. And with a healthy conveyor belt of young talent coming through, there’s plenty to be optimistic about (assuming Australia keeps their hands off the rest of them).

Well done to Tooreen and great to have inter county football back again. A useful run out for some of the new lads and what a warrior AOS still is. Offaly allowed too much space in the first half but shut out in the second. Nice to see shots being taken on even if occasionally it was not the best option available. I feel a new sense of optimism after the downward spiral of the last number of years. Not expecting miracles but lots of raw talent in the pipeline. Best of luck to Andy and the lads for 2026!

Great to see forwards eager and comfortable looking for scores, Towey, Barrett, Beirne, McHale etc, lots of potential!

Moy2Pointer spot on re: Darragh Beirne. It is hard not to get excited and forget how young he is when you see how at ease he looked in there but I agree, we do need to give him time and space. I'd have loved to see David Dolan get a turn between the sticks but hoping we will see that during some of the games ahead.

I was surprised to see Diarmuid Duffy at no. 3 and I'm not sure it worked yesterday, but like everything else, it will take time and patience, we are not rich with natural full backs in the county and we will need to develop.playersnin posituons. Thought he settled into the game in the second half. Fenton Kelly will have far better days than he did yesterday but credit to him, he never stopped trying. And what more can you ask for?

I thought Andy nailed the mix of youth and experience yesterday, given who was available to him. Plenty of teasers there for the season ahead.

My main concern though would still be midfield. Time and time again we were beaten on breaks. An area on which we really need to focus when the regulars are back in.

It’s good to have some freshness around the squad. It was much needed. A Connacht title and a day out in Croker and build on that for the following year is the height of my hopes for the year. At least we are playing the new rules :D

Anne-Marie, I agree although Touhy and Howard continually got both hands on the ball they were unable to hold on to it. Either poor technique or lack of upperbody/arm strength but whatever the reason it can be sorted. Breaking ball is another aspect that good coaching of the right individuals can make a world of difference. Onwards and upwards!

I see David Dolan lined out with the development squad instead against Longford, so he got some game time too.

Courtesy of the Mayo News, here is the squad and scorers for that game:

David Dolan (Balla); Brian O’Donovan (Balla), Luke Jordan (Ballina Stephenites), Ruairi Cullen (Charlestown); Colm Lynch (Parke), John MacMonagle (Castlebar Mitchels), Cathal Keaveney (Parke); Darragh Joyce (Claremorris), Brian O’Malley (Westport); Diarmuid Coggins (Crossmolina), Darragh Reilly (Parke), Liam Donoghue (Kiltane); Ronan Clarke (Moy Davitts), Kuba Callaghan (Ballaghaderreen), Niall Hurley (Claremorris)

Subs used: Tom Lydon (The Neale), Jack Melvin (Davitts), Liam Moore (Kilmeena), Paul Gilmore (Claremorris), Darragh Staunton (Knockmore).

Scorers: T Lydon (0-6, 1tp, 1f), C Keaveney (0-4, 1f), L Donoghue (0-2), J Melvin (0-2x, 1tp), D Coggins (0-2), D Reilly (0-2), R Clarke (0-1), D Joyce (0-1), L Jordan (0-1), D Staunton (0-1).

Good return from Tom Lydon coming on as a sub!

After a little chat about it last week nice to see the (early draft) Sigerson list drop.

Plenty of Mayo interest again this year across 6 different sides (courtesy of AhRef - https://x.com/RefComeOn/status/2003118720114200898).

ATU Galway
James Lavelle (Belmullet)
Jason Crean (Ardnaree Sarsfields)
Conor Reid (Moy Davitts)
Zac Collins (Islandeady)
David Dolan (Balla)

ATU Sligo
Oisín Cronin (Balla)
Ben Donoghue (Kiltane)
Peter Basquille (Castlebar Mitchels)
Aodán McCann (Ballina Stephenites)

DCU Dóchas Éireann
Darragh Joyce (Claremorris)
Finbar McLaughlin (Westport)

UCD
Sam Callinan (Ballina Stephenites)
Diarmuid Duffy (Ballinrobe)
Niall Hurley (Claremorris)
Darragh Reilly (Parke / Keelogues / Crimlin)

University of Galway
Conor Meaney (Westport)
Tom O’Flaherty (Aghamore)
John MacMonagle (Castlebar)
Dara Hurley (Claremorris)

University of Limerick
Cathal Coreless (Davitts)
Cathal Keavney (Parke / Keelogues / Crimlin)
Conal Dawson (Westport)
Cian McHale (Moy Davitts)
Dylan O’Brien (Davitts)
Eoin McGreal (Garrymore)
Frank Irwin (Ballina Stephenites)
Jack Melvin (Davitts)
Hugh O’Loughlin (Kilmaine)
Sean Morahan (Castlebar Mitchels)

Mayo with 29 having the 4th highest representation nationally. Dublin (being as low as they are) and Westmeath (being as high as they are) the two largest outliers for me personally, but a lot of that comes down to where their lads tend to go to college and the level of competition (being highest in the capital) they might face so big caveats on those numbers telling much of a story.

Cork 58
Kerry 48
Galway 44
Mayo 29
Dublin 28
Kildare 28
Westmeath 27
Tyrone 26
Derry 24
Meath 23
Monaghan 23
(Everyone else less than 20, with every county except Kilkenny having at least one player representing them)

For anyone who saw the game against Offaly yesterday, what was your thinking on the short kick-outs? A couple of them went wrong in the first half, but Livingstone persisted with them. I thought he was obviously under instruction to try as many as he could.

Like others on here, of the new / younger lads I thought Cian McHale, Seamus Howard, Liam Golden and Darragh Beirne showed well.

I thought Bob Tuohy finished the game strongly, it's time for him to kick on to the next level if he is going to be a long-term option around the middle. And of course great to see Tommy Conroy back.

Interesting times ahead.

Similar to last year we played three midfielders in the forwards and only three natural forwards up front in the first half - and like last year we struggled to score.
However, at ht we replaced two midfielders with two natural forwards - and the whole dynamic changed up front and we created and took several chances.
Hopefully we will continue to play 5 natural forwards up front for the remainder of the year.

Sean where are you? It's that time again

Had to watch the second half back again - my viewing disrupted yesterday and had a disjointed feel from the whole thing.

Offaly? Very well drilled and very well conditioned - they brushed Mayo aside with ease on many many occasions, including the second half when the game had gone away from them. Keith O'Neill, Bryant, Murphy are a handful for any team and they could do quite well in the second division.

The old bacon factory versus Albany ends debate could go on for a while after this game. Offaly couldn't miss into the bf end in the first half and Mayo scored a lot into it in the second half. Shots that couldn't be missed were butchered by both teams into the Albany end. Was there a swirling wind down that end that caught balls?

On the Mayo selection, you have to wonder why Jordan was selected. Surely there's a strong case for resting him until mid league - he's been on the go since January. As South Mayo said the plethora of midfielders selected in the first half didn't help zipping up the attacking structure. The newbies showed some promise, but they do need to bulk up; time and time again, they were brushed aside by Offaly. Nevertheless, attacking options are much increased with the return of Tommy and James. Darragh Beirne, Cian MacHale, Adam Barrett all have real potential, and Tom Lydon kicked, six was it in the Longford match? Then there's Niall Hurley.

With a lot of good free takers, it was surprising to see Ryan O'D taking them from the left until they got sense and let Darragh have a go - with good results. Our two pointer efforts were pathetic really, and Paul Towey hit a lot of wides.

Lee Keegan had a great game too!

Going to be interesting to see how Andy goes about filling the gaps in the side.
Goalkeeper is the first one. Hennelly is a good option to have but our other contenders are completely unproven at this point.
Then we had an issue with winning primary possession at midfield where we need a combination of breaking ball winners and high fielders. Darren McHale set the tone last year winning breaking ball. For all the midfielders we have had on the field in recent years, we never really dominated the middle third too often in big games.
Scoring two pointers was the other weakness last year. The new rules mean you are at such a disadvantage if you haven’t got a genuine threat from 2 pointers.

Other than that we generally need more pace and raw speed all over the field. Real pity that Neary is not available for 2026 he was one of the main positives of the McStay era.

Generally speaking, two point attempts were the right option. I can't remember another time outside of the Towey attempt, that it was absolutely the wrong option. And Towey ran his socks off for the whole game.
The style of play was most interesting. I can't remember going around the arc twice to set up a two pointer. It was quick movement. High octane stuff but you will need a bench to maintain that level of pace. Andy was also asking to put offaly under pressure rather than standing off in closing down offaly players. More high octane stuff.
Interesting times ahead but we'll be dining at the top table sooner than we think. A good showing in league and championship, a connacht title would be a bonus....

Congratulations to Tooreen on a fantastic win and second half display. If anyone doblubts the skill levels of these guys just look at the point from Eoin Delaney after 43 minutes from a sideline ball and some of the points following in the next 10 minutes from. Boland, Lavin, kenny and others as good as you will see anywhere. These guys deserve huge support for the final. Let's start it here on the blog....

We could do with Davitt Neary back in the panel and James Maheady I can understand fully the reasons why people might not want one or both representing Mayo but no doubting their ability and talent

I think a fit and firing James Carr will make a huge difference to our forward line... imagine him Tommy and Ryan running at you all game, and integrate Darragh,Tom L or Niall along with some of our well established older stagers and there's a fair bit of potency there.
Defense fairly set when the likes of Jack and McB come back in,so midfield and choice as keeper probably our main areas to work on.

Based on the squad that the local papers reported had travelled to Portugal and who played in the Longford & Offaly challenge games, we could have put out a third team last weekend if these lads had been available:

1. Rob Hennelly
2. Jack Coyne
3. David McBrien
4. Donnacha McHugh
5. Paddy Durcan
6. Sam Callinan
7. Rory Brickenden
8. Hugh O’Loughlin
9. Jack Carney
10. Darren McHale
11. Diarmuid O’Connor
12. Matthew Ruane
13. Kobe McDonald (Fergal Boland tied up with Toreen)
14. Cillian O’Connor
15. Finbar McLoughlin

And it’s a decent team too, Moy2Pointer!

Still don't seem to have any midfielder who can win the high ball, maybe a job for Aiden O Shea to do there , similar to what David Moran did for Kerry and Paul Conroy for Galway , stay around the middle , very little running , just high catches and set up play, which he is very good at, dont think there is a place for him in full forward line, if Carr, Conroy, Cillian and Ryan O D are all fit.

It is a decent team Moy and Willie Joe. And, if we could add in, even to that panel, Eoin MacLaughlin, Conor Loftus, Davitt Neary, we could give Andy and the lads some real selection headaches.

New pod up - this one our Christmas wrap-up show, in which Mike is joined by Paddy Finnegan and Ger Flanagan.

Tickets on sale for the FBD games today. 15€ to attend while other provinces are charging 10€ for their pre-season games

Province is much smaller,Munster have both hurling and football.

It's been 10€ for FBD tickets for as long as I can remember. If increasing tickets as the Connacht GAA have done here they should at least have package price of say 30€ for the guaranteed 3 games.

Ulster GAA for the record have a package price of three group games,semi final and final for 25.

Shows you how out of touch we are when promoting our games. A package is a no brainer. Shake up needed at the table who decided a fixed charge of €15. Totally lacking in imagination or business sense.

As many have stated a s is also quite clear, we are badly in need of primary ball winners around midfield and this is vital under the new rules and we struggled in this area last season. I am however hopeful and encouraged after seeing Howard and O'Loughlin for the U20s, both outstanding high fielders with huge potential. The placing of Diarmaid Duffy is intriguing, but it's a position that also needs addressing, so maybe Andy is thinking outside the box-after all some of the greatest full-backs over the years were converted midfielders.

Glass, though it was hard to judge, there were a couple of of snippets where I thought Duffy did some clever things. Would like to see him tried there for a couple of matches.

Glory days: why the comment about Davitt Neary? What is that ?

Food4thought - that topic isn’t, to be honest, one that should be discussed here.

Some people getting excited about young players coming through especially forwards and high fielding midfielders, just remember that Sligo Leitrem with Roscommon and Galway were beating us this last few years at both minor and under 20 , I would be a bit cautious about all these rising stars.

Understood,WillieJoe.