they didnât bottle itâŚFitzgerald kicked points from every part of the field with both feetâŚwhat player of same class as him did Mayo have in their ranks and at the peak of his powers to match that?..Macdonald was just 22âŚ
Agree to an extent. They should have won draw, but not replay. 97 was against a relatively average Kerry, but still they were beaten by a better team in the day. They never had 97, they totally had 96.
Mayoâs greatest asset in those years was their fitnessâŚthey were nearly trained too hard and fooked by the time September cameâŚdidnât Maughan famously take them running on the beaches between final and replay in '96âŚthat would be unheard of nowâŚ
Some of his methods were questionable alright. Great motivator by all accounts though. I think we ended up doing some of Mayoâs training by way of a connection and I remember hating it, if not remembering it that well. Back then we drank AND played football.
Mayo had stuffed Kerry the previous year but in the final in '97 they let themselves be bullied from the off. Kerry had few scoring threats other than Fitzgerald - it shouldnât be that difficult to contain a star player when the rest of the team is as average as Kerry were. Dublin managed to keep Peter Canavan to one point from play in '95 and the rest of the Kerry forwards werenât much better than Tyroneâs in '95. In saying that they also had bad luck with their free taker having to go off as well as having a point by McDonald wrongly waved wide.
I also disagree that they didnât bottle it in '04, '06 and last year. They would have lost those matches anyway but they played like an under-12 team for most of the '04 final and in '06. They were a shambles in the early part of last yearâs final and the game was effectively lost by the time they woke up. In all those matches most of their players clearly lacked belief that they could win and nerves destroyed them. Itâs a cliche but tradition means a lot in representative team sports -itâs extremely rare that any Kerry football team or Cork hurling team will ever lack belief, whereas Waterford and Limerick hurlers and Mayo footballers have a losing culture which tends to reinforce itself as the years go on. There are similar themes across international football and international rugby.
[quote=âSidney, post: 779383, member: 183â]Mayo had stuffed Kerry the previous year but in the final in '97 they let themselves be bullied from the off. Kerry had few scoring threats other than Fitzgerald - it shouldnât be that difficult to contain a star player when the rest of the team is as average as Kerry were. Dublin managed to keep Peter Canavan to one point from play in '95 and the rest of the Kerry forwards werenât much better than Tyroneâs in '95. In saying that they also had bad luck with their free taker having to go off as well as having a point by McDonald wrongly waved wide.
I also disagree that they didnât bottle it in '04, '06 and last year. They would have lost those matches anyway but they played like an under-12 team for most of the '04 final and in '06. They were a shambles in the early part of last yearâs final and the game was effectively lost by the time they woke up. In all those matches most of their players clearly lacked belief that they could win and nerves destroyed them. .[/quote]
bullshitâŚIf that Kerry team in '97 was so average why did so many of the team go on to win more all Irelands - oâkeefe, Fitzgerald,Moynihan, Dara O Se, johnny Crowley, Mike Frank Russell,O cinneide,âŚPa laide was a faboulous footballer but dogged with injuriesâŚsame with barry O shea âŚ
last yearâŚMayoâs mistake was not assigning one of their physically stronger players to mark murphy instead of the corner backâŚthey thought Murphy was going to stay at centre forward on VaughanâŚit was naive more than bottling itâŚand Donegal got 2 goals from the high ball into MurphyâŚ
Charlie Redmond.
Tom Brady.
Zlatan.
[quote=âscumpot, post: 779408, member: 182â]bullshitâŚIf that Kerry team in '97 was so average why did so many of the team go on to win more all Irelands - oâkeefe, Fitzgerald,Moynihan, Dara O Se, johnny Crowley, Mike Frank Russell,O cinneide,âŚPa laide was a faboulous footballer but dogged with injuriesâŚsame with barry O shea âŚ
last yearâŚMayoâs mistake was not assigning one of their physically stronger players to mark murphy instead of the corner backâŚthey thought Murphy was going to stay at centre forward on VaughanâŚit was naive more than bottling itâŚand Donegal got 2 goals from the high ball into MurphyâŚ[/quote]
Kerry were a distinctly average team in 1997 - several of those players were well off the standard where they would be in future years and they won it because the draw completely opened up for them. Meath were probably the best team that year but got bogged down with replays and suspensions. Thereâs no way theyâd have frozen in the final the way Mayo did.
Mayo did everything they did in 2006 in the early part of last yearâs final - they were heavy legged all over the pitch, slow to react, beaten to every made stupid tackles, chose poor options when in possession. Thatâs exactly what happens when a team bottles it and by the time they recovered some kind of composure it was too late.
Mayo were never favorites to win any of those finals they all went as the bookieâs planned they didnât bottle any they were beaten by better teams
Nah, they had 96, that was the one. Still, that Meath side made a lot of good teams shit the pot in their day, but 96 was there for them to close and they blew up. That was their chance. For what its worth, I too am not sure they âbottledâ it but they dd leave 96 after them. Following that, there was no shame in losing to the sides they lost to.
I do like Mayo though, theyâre triers and have taken more scalps in Croke Park when little was expected of them than most. Hope they get over the line sooner rather than later.
Thierry Henry.
Mayo were slight favourites in 1997. A team certainly doesnât have to be favourites to bottle it though.
David Beckham
Jimmy Cooney.
Berrick Barnes
Jack Sheedy Midfielder for Dublin in the early to mid-90âs. He use to be good against shitty counties but would disappear when we would come up against Meath.
Kildare football team