You must be trolling Liamo? Or just having a laugh?
Picture this ,there are 10 minted left in an Al Ireland Final and the game is there for the taking who would you rather be up against?
Kerry or Mayo?
Thought so.

Condorman (Dublin) - Posts:465 - 13/04/2016 16:52:39 184

Kerry!! Look at the last few times we have played them in those exact circumstances Condor....

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 13/04/2016 17:07:37    1845301

ah lads come on, not Mayo again. They have not got a hope of beating Dublin or Kerry anytime soon. They dont have the forwards or the mental strength to win a game. Aidan O S in all fairness would not get into any of those teams if they were at full strength. In fact i would move Donegal and Tyrone above them in the pecking order. For all their frailties Cork and Monaghan could beat them. They unfortunately backed the wrong horse.

pretender (Meath) - Posts: 358 - 13/04/2016 17:33:00    1845317

there is a great chance for Mayo this summer. Hopefully if Connacht goes ok, and quarters then a semi final against Tyrone or Donegal. Winner to play, barring a miracle, Dublin or Kerry in the final. Great chance for the Mayo men imo. If they can step up physically and mentally.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2522 - 13/04/2016 18:07:03    1845339

Mayo gave us our toughest game last year, if we are judging teams by league form then Kerry are ahead in the pecking order , but that can be a dangerous assumption.

AthCliath (Dublin) - Posts: 4347 - 13/04/2016 19:01:49    1845357

Mayo are the 2nd best team in Ireland.

Had a lot of players missing for league and started serious training a lot later which is why they finished 5th, I expect them to reach AI Final in September.

KYTitletown (Kerry) - Posts: 816 - 13/04/2016 19:03:02    1845359

The bookies odds say it is more likely that 1 or both of Mayo and Kerry will be beaten in their provincial championships than it is that they will both win their province. Yet on here accepted wisdom is that both will cruise through without being challenged. It looks like alot of posters have the chance to make some serious money this summer!

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 13/04/2016 19:39:42    1845374

The bookies odds say it is more likely that 1 or both of Mayo and Kerry will be beaten in their provincial championships than it is that they will both win their province. Yet on here accepted wisdom is that both will cruise through without being challenged. It looks like alot of posters have the chance to make some serious money this summer!

Soma (UK) - Posts:1366 - 13/04/2016 19:39:42 18

Love to know how you work that one out.

AthCliath (Dublin) - Posts: 4347 - 13/04/2016 20:04:55    1845378

For the league, Mayo had an injury-riddled, depleted squad, a new management team and were a good bit behind in training and fitness levels than most other teams. They were hardly going to set the league alight given the circumstances. They stated at the outset that Div 1 survival was the goal and that was achieved. I wouldn't read anything else into their league form.

Mayo are a championship side and I expect they'll be much improved by the time summer arrives. It'll be interesting to see how Rochford changes things up, but based on what he did with Corofin, his preferred style of play is moving the ball very quickly through the foot, so I fully expect that style to be implemented in Mayo come summer. They still have some outstanding players from the last couple of years. Of the younger ones, well, the jury's still out on Evan Regan, but he's potentially a very good addition to their forward line, with a handy left-foot and an eye for goal by the looks of things. He might be on the lighter side, but he looks very agile, and could do well on the drier ground over the summer. Diarmuid O'Connor is obviously a great talent, probably the best young player in the country, and they seem to have unearthed a solid defender in Brendan Harrison. The question of how to best utilise AOS is still up for debate, but I don't expect to see him held at full-foward.

I'll be surprised if Mayo don't make an AI final this year.

ZeitChrist (UK) - Posts: 154 - 13/04/2016 21:15:05    1845397

AthCliath bookies odds for a Kerry/Mayo provincial double is about 5/4 at the minute. I am not much of a gambler but that seems to say that the bookies believe it is less likely to happen than it is to happen?

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 13/04/2016 21:30:48    1845402

Mayo have played in the last 5 All Ireland semi finals, and in all a total of seven games
They won the semi's of 20012/13 but lost both All Ireland's
From 9 big games they won two which is a poor return and what I'd be worried about is the stand the team took last year against the management
Can the new manager get any improvement out of this group of players and he is new to inter county management This summer will test the Mayo management and I for one would not be suprised if they get beat in Connaught They are by no means a shoo in for Connaught and really speaking they need to win Sam this year ,, if not where do they go I doubt if they would beat Kerry but I'd give them a bigger chance of beating Dublin.
I'd like to see their provincial campaign over first and then judge them.
What Rochford done with Corofin might not work with Mayo

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 13/04/2016 21:58:41    1845410

Still think they will be to strong and physical in Connaught. Ulster side will be first real test in semi and could go either way.
New manager and all as they wanted you would think they need to win it though or there really is little different.Some on them lads like the media too which would be a worry.
BTW,do the clocks go forward twice in Meath as the shop closed earlier than expected last night.

catch22 (USA) - Posts: 2148 - 14/04/2016 09:39:07    1845417

Are there many new faces being brought in under the new Mayo management? or are they relying on roughly the same team of the last 5 or 6 years? I've only watched a couple of league highlights of Mayo so far this year and from what I've seen the team seems to be quite similar to what it has been, not that there's much wrong with that because there are some of Ireland's finest players amongst them. But the tactics seemed to be high balls into AO'S at full forward and a heavy reliance on the return and good health of CO'C. When the whole debacle over new management began in Mayo, I assumed there was maybe hidden gems or ideas that were being ignored by the previous management that would see fresh momentum and enthusiasm to move up a level or two but at least at this stage it there doesn't seem to be much evidence of it. Maybe I haven't watched them enough and maybe its a bit early in the year to make that assumption, but its just the vibes I'm getting.

SaffronDon (Antrim) - Posts: 2386 - 14/04/2016 10:01:43    1845419

SamOnErrigal, so just to be clear, a game with donegal in 2012 is a big game, yet in 2013 and 2015, it isn't...
The problem with that logic is it is that the whole thing is rewritten completely in hindsight. Any game we win gets cast off as not a big game, any game we lose gets designated a big game. You seem to have forgotten our record of dethroning AI champions. Apparently they aren't big games...

Applying your own logic to say donegal, they have only won 3 'big games' in the same period.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 14/04/2016 11:20:24    1845442

Applying your own logic to say donegal, they have only won 3 'big games' in the same period.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts:15341 - 14/04/2016 11:20:24 1845442
Ulster championship a lot tougher than Connacht in this period so Donegal have won alot more than 3 big games!!

Belclare1 (Galway) - Posts: 1626 - 14/04/2016 12:42:58    1845505

Master - Donegal won the one that mattered most....the final. True we have beaten them twice and Dublin in recent years but we have failed to land the big one on the big day. Until we do...people will turn their nose up at Mayo and make fun. That's not to say they are correct but it is the harsh reality of how people outside look at us. It used to bother me but not anymore....

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11237 - 14/04/2016 12:50:16    1845510

Ulster championship a lot tougher than Connacht in this period so Donegal have won alot more than 3 big games!!
Belclare1

Yes, and my point about donegal only having 3 big games is about highlighting how daft that logic is. Of course they have had more big games - so have we.


Master - Donegal won the one that mattered most....the final. True we have beaten them twice and Dublin in recent years but we have failed to land the big one on the big day. Until we do...people will turn their nose up at Mayo and make fun. That's not to say they are correct but it is the harsh reality of how people outside look at us. It used to bother me but not anymore....
yew_tree

Im not denying most of what you state in that point YT. Im pointing out that pretty much the only games that were being defined as big, were the ones we lost, and that simply isn't accurate. We have actually beaten more AI holders than anyone, so how can we not be winning big games? Our wins against cork were huge games. Donegal's wins against Kerry and cork in 2012 were also huge. This 'big games' logic doesn't stand up to scrutiny, it is actually just revisionism. What I don't agree with is that we should just learn to grin and bare it when someone decides to cook up some half-baked theory in their heads. Why would anyone do that?

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 14/04/2016 13:24:25    1845536

What I don't agree with is that we should just learn to grin and bare it when someone decides to cook up some half-baked theory in their heads. Why would anyone do that?

True but views here would rarely be expressed in person. I do know what you getting at though...Mayo in 2011 under Horan's first year beat Cork in a quarter final in a game Joe brolly said and I quote "Cork will wipe the floor with Mayo" and we then had Davis and even a thread here (look up the history) calling Mayo chockers for loosing to Kerry but rather than say it was a good year for a young learning Mayo team people took the easy way out to explain defeat that year.....while other counties get plaudits for building a team even if they get knocked out.

I do think though as we have been there or there abouts in 1989 bar a few years here an there where we were knocked out early that people except us to show up and win it for once and for all.....I do get the feeling of goodwill toward us is gone (for this team anyway) and people are fed up of backing us only to fail....add in players revolt and I don't think this is the most liked Mayo team but liked team's don't win anything. If we won a few All Ireland's and everybody hated us....I would take that.

Lazy journalism and analysis towards Mayo is a matter off fact...as I said don't let it get you down. We know what we are about as a county and people...get up...keep trying....we will get there eventually.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11237 - 14/04/2016 14:17:58    1845570

Maybe you should grin and bear it The Master?

Condorman (Dublin) - Posts: 983 - 14/04/2016 14:24:21    1845573

Liamo,

Last year we were much better than Kerry it was only tight because the weather was so bad.I believe on a fine dry day we would have been comfortable winners.
That said Kerry with their winning tradition and mentality would be far more formidable opposition than Mayo.Cast your mind back to 2014, Mayo 5 up on Kerry with time running out and Kerry still managed a draw and almost won it.
I don't think anyone would honestly prefer Kerry as opponents given a choice between Kerry and Mayo.
They don't say 'Mayo God help us ' for nothing!

Condorman (Dublin) - Posts: 983 - 14/04/2016 14:33:14    1845579

Maybe you should grin and bear it The Master?
Condorman

Why?

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 14/04/2016 15:43:46    1845611