The 2012 Connacht Championship..

Odd antics by the referee Patsy. Every time the umpire raised a green flag the fecker wrote it in his notebook.
He also failed to give us penalties on the 6 occasions we got inside the 14yd line. A shoddy performance by him.

In other news "it seems" that a small number of our supporters were somewhat the worse for wear due to the ingestion of strong drink.
They behaved (used lightly) in an appalling manner I gather, hurling profanaties and abuse at all and sundry and let themselves and the remaining supporters down in a scandalous manner.
I've been out manys the day and on the end of some woeful trimmings, but we always managed to accept these defeats stoically and move on. Not so for these boyos however. I gather a bit of an investigation is taking place and am pleased to report that no club locally has a case to answer. Shameful scenes.

Mayo, having gotten over the minnows that are Leitrim, start favourites for the Nestor trophy on Sunday. At time of print, the final is fixed for the Hyde and the ground, the finest in Connacht, will be well able for use after Saturday's qualifier (Ross V Tyrone)..
This qualifier fixture gives our Northern brethren the opportunity to visit Roscommon and sample the conviviality of Tom Foxe's noble hostelry as one approaches the pitch. Sadly, the bould Tom is currently closer to the pitch, behind the town end goals in fact....RIP.

Sligo are not to be under-rated however. A resilient performance of defiance and fluency enabled them see off Galway from a half-time deficit of approaching, if not exactly, 9 points. This was largely due to an epic performance from Adrian Marren and minus David Kelly.

Mayo, despite league form, are liable to blow hot and cold. James Horan is a focussed and shrewd manager, therefore complacency shouldn't be a factor. Can Andy Moran repeat last years heroics or will the mercurial Mort start??? No team selections as yet, but the National League gap that exists between the counties may prove a bridge too far for Sligo....

Verdict: Mayo (but they might get shirt-fulls of it).

I've put together a tactical preview of Mayo vs. Sligo here [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Mortimer throws the toys out of the pram. While I fully appreciate the time and sacrifice given by any intercounty player surely Mortimer could have held off on his announcement til Monday. Not his style though ..... Next stop Kildare??

Parouisa wrote:Mortimer throws the toys out of the pram. While I fully appreciate the time and sacrifice given by any intercounty player surely Mortimer could have held off on his announcement til Monday. Not his style though ..... Next stop Kildare??

An idiot, but still a blow to Mayo. I saw him a few times on tv this spring, and he is still a decent corner forward. Whether or not he should be starting for Mayo, his absence certainly weakens their options on the bench, and sees them lose a decent free-taker. Perhaps the dressing room will be better off without him but, from a footballing perspective, he's a loss to Mayo.

[quote="Thomas Clarke"
An idiot, but still a blow to Mayo. I saw him a few times on tv this spring, and he is still a decent corner forward. Whether or not he should be starting for Mayo, his absence certainly weakens their options on the bench, and sees them lose a decent free-taker. Perhaps the dressing room will be better off without him but, from a footballing perspective, he's a loss to Mayo.[/quote]

Yerrah TC he's fook all loss to Mayo in real terms. He's no better now than he was 6/8 years ago and unlikely to improve. I have no time whatsoever for the likes of him, posturing, pouting and not putting in the hard yards.
On one of his all to rare good days he was a fair to middling corner forward, unlikely to burst a gut competing or chasing back and even more unlikely to provide the defence splitting pass. In fact I cannot ever remember any pass, ne're mind a defence splitting one....3/10.

I agree with most of what you've said Boxty, but I think you also have to consider the lack of alternatives that Mayo have. Jason Doherty, Enda Varley and Michael Conroy won't strike fear into many corner backs, and I'd say that 'The Mort' would be as useful as any of those. Plus, if anything happens to Cillian O'Connor, he would be on to kick the frees.

I never thought that he was a very good one, but he did always seem to chip in with a few points. I still think this lessens their options, although the dressing room may be a happier place without him.

As if things weren't bad enough.....

In the wake of the decision of Mayo's all-time leading scorer to withdraw from the county panel mere days before the 2012 Connacht SFC final, Mortimer's family (including his brothers Trevor and Kenneth, both former Mayo captains) released a statement last night, which is published in today's Irish Examiner. It reads:

"Conor lived for Mayo football all his life. He began his inter-county career in the Ted Webb Competition and suffered numerous injuries over the years. Both of his brothers, Kenneth and Trevor, played for the county also and suffered injuries, like Conor over the years. They are 100% behind his decision.

"The family feel that Conor, Kenneth and Trevor owe nothing to Mayo football. Conor is a colourful character and made many friends and some enemies over the years while playing.

"Conor was out of football for twelve months last year with a knee injury. The manager James Horan never contacted him to see how he was coming along.

"When he returned to football, he was playing super football for his club Shrule/Glencorrib. James Horan was notified of a game he would be playing in, but did not attend.

"The family feel that Conor wasn't wanted in the team. He says that every time Conor was dropped James Horan told him he had a new plan, in that he had found two goal-scoring forwards. However, the Mortimer family feel that plan has not materialised.

"Conor was playing well in A v B games in training of late and two former Mayo managers saw him and can't understand why he wasn't picked.

"He scored 0-8 against Dublin in the league in Castlebar and was man of the match in that game, which was well deserved. He was dropped two weeks later for the Kerry game and only played for 10-15 minutes of it.

"He was dropped again from the starting 15 for the Leitrim game because of this plan referred to by the manager. He is currently fourth choice as a corner forward and it has destroyed his confidence. He wasn't happy with the way football was being played in the Mayo camp.

"When the previous manager was in charge, there were four Shrule/Glencorrib players on the panel. Now there are none. Mark Ronaldson was another example from last season - he was playing well and was dropped from the panel.

"In the last seven or eight Connacht finals that Mayo were involved in, Conor was top scorer in six of them. He is the all-time leading scorer in Mayo. He feels he has another three years of top-level football in him, but has made his decision and his family are behind him.

"Football was his life and he was never found wanting. He always made himself available to the media, but now all he wants is his privacy and integrity protected.

"His family are extremely happy with his achievements and are very proud of him and have always been 100% behind him and remain so."

I get the impression that Conor Mortimer has been hard done by here. A lot of people speaking highly of the effort he put in to overcome his injury and also of his current form. I suppose given the type of character Mortimer is, he'll be subject to some ridicule from outside pundits. It's an unfortunate situation. A lot of these young managers, e.g. Horan, McGuinness appear very pragmatic and probably pride themselves on ruling like army officers. Players like Mortimer and Cassidy have too much personality to be allowed in their squads.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote: Players like Mortimer and Cassidy have too much personality to be allowed in their squads.

Whatever about The Mort, I don't think that Cassidy's big personality was the problem. I suspect the real reasons for his departure have thus far only been alluded to.

The Mort was never the same since the couple of Dublin young wans' chased himself and Kevin Reilly out of Ballymun back in 09.

The shame of it broke his spirit if truth be told.

My take on today's game including a look at where Mortimer was missed
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

emmetryan wrote:My take on today's game including a look at where Mortimer was missed
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Buddy. We can all see "where it went wrong"...

Throw up your views on the last 2 in h/f with your wisdom.....

Very poor standard here ... Leitrim may fly the flag for the province this year ....