Mayo Super League 2009

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Originally Posted by Norm

I think there definately has to be two teams relegated from the S.L. this season, regardless of the decision on the teams coming up. A league without the threat of relegation is pretty pointless.

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The league would want to clarify what exactly is going to happen with the relegation/ promotion issue. Its a disaster waiting to happen. Are they going to have 12 teams in the premier if there is no team promoted from this league, are teams not going to relegated from the super league. I would have thought that if B teams occupy either first or second in the premier that the next highest team capable of promotion should be given a playoff spot against the relegated teams in the superleague. If these games were played over 2 legs I think this would be fair. Anyone know what the league intend to do or what do ye think of the above.

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Originally Posted by murphs jewels

Guys I was at a meeting last year in the Welcome Inn organised by the ML. The aim of the meeting was to establish and put in place certain ground rules for this season including standards of coaching in the SL, scrappage of mid season break, start time for all divisions e.t.c. A large portion of the meeting was taken up with promotion of "B" teams into the SL and the possibility of a Club having 2 teams in that division. What I am getting at is the fact that Castlebar Celtic have got their wish and are now playing their old "B" team at this level and I think that it would be fair to say that they just dont cut it in this division. They have 6 points from a possible 21 and I feel that if S&F hadn't lost so many players then Celtic would be in the relegation places insted of 3rd bottom. Whats your oppinion on this and what do you think will happen next year if Iorras "B" and Westport "B" finish in the top 2 in the premier division. There was the possibility of the SL being reduced to 8 teams if this trend continued. Maybe this is why there is a lack of interest this season, what do ye think?

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With regard to your comment Celtic Don't cut it in this division its bit unfair as they have lost 4 points to injury time goals and the younger players will get stronger in the second half of the season. Yes they will be near the bottom but if they stay up and with this seasons experience of playing in LOI A & U20 leagues plus S/l and get the squads right should do very well next season in S/L

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Originally Posted by Closing Time

With regard to your comment Celtic Don't cut it in this division its bit unfair as they have lost 4 points to injury time goals and the younger players will get stronger in the second half of the season. Yes they will be near the bottom but if they stay up and with this seasons experience of playing in LOI A & U20 leagues plus S/l and get the squads right should do very well next season in S/L

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I appreciate what you just said CT, but we all loose late goals and get bad decisions. What I am realy saying is that soccer in the county is not as "interesting" without a decent Celtic side. This happens to effect 2 divisions and I feal that now the current SL side are the original "B's" and they have complained for years about not getting a crack in the top teir, that they just havn't cut it for me.... sorry thats just my oppinion..

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Originally Posted by theboy

I agree, things have been pretty quite, the SL is near the halfway mark and you would hardly no its on. Has alot of the interest gone from the SL? Do westport not care that much anymore since celtic's 1st team have left the league? all the other teams seem to be fighting it out with each other, with alot of these teams having there own troubles behind closed doors. Maybe alot of the interest is gone from the players therefore people are losing interest!!!!

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I believe apart from Utd the current standard of teams in the S/l is very very poor and some players making teams are average at best. The overall play is very limited with vey little football played and a very average pace. I have watched this standard slip for the last 7 years and when watching the A games the gulf in the games is massive. Yes Utd would be great in the A league and its a pity their club did not enter and give thier players the opportunity to play at this level. And of course there are many S/L players capable of playing in the A League. The only exciting part of the S/l will be the relegation battle. Erris (average without GAA players) or Town will be no where near Utd regardless of good runs or not.

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Originally Posted by Closing Time

I believe apart from Utd the current standard of teams in the S/l is very very poor and some players making teams are average at best. The overall play is very limited with vey little football played and a very average pace. I have watched this standard slip for the last 7 years and when watching the A games the gulf in the games is massive. Yes Utd would be great in the A league and its a pity their club did not enter and give thier players the opportunity to play at this level. And of course there are many S/L players capable of playing in the A League. The only exciting part of the S/l will be the relegation battle. Erris (average without GAA players) or Town will be no where near Utd regardless of good runs or not.

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if thats the case then the standard throughout the entire country must be slipping with erris getting to the last four in ireland

on the issue if relegation from the super league i'd have to agree with norm and say that teams will have to be relegated-possibly a playoff for a place in the super league between the top two in the premier and the bottom two in the super league

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Originally Posted by Cloggs

if thats the case then the standard throughout the entire country must be slipping with erris getting to the last four in ireland

on the issue if relegation from the super league i'd have to agree with norm and say that teams will have to be relegated-possibly a playoff for a place in the super league between the top two in the premier and the bottom two in the super league

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As the quote says one swallow does not make a summer. If you read my post re Erris (without GAA players) are average.

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Originally Posted by rava

The league would want to clarify what exactly is going to happen with the relegation/ promotion issue. Its a disaster waiting to happen. Are they going to have 12 teams in the premier if there is no team promoted from this league, are teams not going to relegated from the super league. I would have thought that if B teams occupy either first or second in the premier that the next highest team capable of promotion should be given a playoff spot against the relegated teams in the superleague. If these games were played over 2 legs I think this would be fair. Anyone know what the league intend to do or what do ye think of the above.

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I think this could work, over a two legged playoff the better team should come through and this could only be good for the SL. It would give teams in the premier something to play for untill the end of the season and I am sure no SL team wants to be in a playoff. The league will have to announce something of its intentions soon otherwise nobody has a clue what their playing for and both the SL & Premier could just fizzle out.

On the idea of reducing the Super League to 8 teams I just fail to understand how this will improve to quality of the league. Its the very nature of leagues all over the world both amatuer & professional that teams compete in Leagues above their quality, its this challenge that drives players on in my opinion. Look at the SL, Ballyheane werent given a chance when they were promoted and are still there after 12 yrs, Snugboro and Fahy are more recent examples of teams finding their feet and competing well in the Superleague. The idea that the standard is dropping is a hard one to quantify, the age old argument of football was better in my day still sounds the same as when I started playing. I personally think the league should stop trying to create this mythical super competive league as it is a impossible dream.

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Originally Posted by The Don

I think this could work, over a two legged playoff the better team should come through and this could only be good for the SL. It would give teams in the premier something to play for untill the end of the season and I am sure no SL team wants to be in a playoff. The league will have to announce something of its intentions soon otherwise nobody has a clue what their playing for and both the SL & Premier could just fizzle out.

On the idea of reducing the Super League to 8 teams I just fail to understand how this will improve to quality of the league. Its the very nature of leagues all over the world both amatuer & professional that teams that sometimes are not good enough compete in Leagues above their quality, its this challenge that drives players on in my opinion. Look at the SL, Ballyheane werent given a chance when they were promoted and are still there after 12 yrs, Snugboro and Fahy are more recent examples of teams finding their feet and competing well in the Superleague. The idea that the standard is dropping is a hard one to quantify, the age old argument of football was better in my day still sounds the same as when I started playing. I personally think the league should stop trying to create this mythical super competive league as it is a impossible dream.

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The Super League this year is of a very poor standard,even westport are huffing and puffing to get results.What im saying may sound harsh but its the truth.There is no one that will compete with westport for the league,yes teams will get the odd result against them,all the rest are not consistent enough.Ballina on thier day are a match for any team,Erris will finish top four but thats all,Snugboro will get results against any team but as proved against Fahy they will lose games as well that they should not.The league would most definitely be a better place with Celtic there.
Are Manulla playing Snugboro this evening in the Westaro Cup does anyone know?

this really needs to be sorted out doesn't it.
everyone here agrees that the top 2 divisions have been weakened by the lack of a celtic team challenging for a title.
i don't know the answer and everyone will have different opinions but this problem will only continue as our strongest team will not be back in the super league and if nothing is done by the mayo league then interest in mayo football will drop big time

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Originally Posted by hoop4life

this really needs to be sorted out doesn't it.
everyone here agrees that the top 2 divisions have been weakened by the lack of a celtic team challenging for a title.
i don't know the answer and everyone will have different opinions but this problem will only continue as our strongest team will not be back in the super league and if nothing is done by the mayo league then interest in mayo football will drop big time

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I don't think its quite that bad.

It was always going to take Castlebar Celtic a couple of seasons to find their feet again at junior level following their step up to the A league.

Their decision to enter the A League of Ireland will not reap rewards overnight and it is quite clear that as a club they are looking to strenghten and build for the future. Once the club adjusts to having a team competing at national Senior level as well as junior level, I think they will start to strenghten again as a force in the S.L.

As I have already said, this will not happen in one season. Fair enough Celtics best team will not be back in the S.L., but that is because their best team is a senior A L.O.I team. There is no reason why their best junior team cannot rebuild and win titles again.

Castlebar Celtic A league team is no longer comparible to the S.L.

Junior and underage soccer has seen huge growth, development and success in Mayo in the last 10 years. The number of new clubs entering teams along with the increase in B & C teams is testament to this prosperity. Playing fields & facilities are some of the best in the country.

Surely the fact that we have a Junior cup winner, and 2 Junior cup semi-finalists in the last 4 years playing in our ten team S.L. shows we are not a lost cause yet. Add in the Connaught Senior & Junior cup succeses and you have a pretty decent C.V for a league that is losing fans! I haven't time to go on about underage successes - Erris, C'bar Celtic. Ladies - Manulla.

I fully agree their is a problem with competition at the top end of the S.L., but surely its as much down to individual clubs to step it up as it is up to the M.L. to do something about it.

Westport are still winning, Celtic in their defence are in the middle of a fairly comprehensive transitional period, as for the rest of us.... No excuses...!!

fair points norm and i agree that soccer in mayo has taken a step forward in the last decade and i do not think that youth football will be affected by this, i just think that unless a bit of re-structuring is done to the super league then the next 4-5 years may be a bit of a bore unless the likes of ballina, erris, manulla and maybe the likes of yerselves and the boro step it up big time and challenge westport, but at the moment this does not look like happening. also, the relegation process is a bit of a joke, no one knows what is happening this year.
i believe that and 8 team super league may be worth a shot. it would make it more competitive, tighter and i think it might raise the standard as teams would have to work harder and prepare better to get promotion and also survive in an 8 team league

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Originally Posted by hoop4life

i believe that and 8 team super league may be worth a shot. it would make it more competitive, tighter and i think it might raise the standard as teams would have to work harder and prepare better to get promotion and also survive in an 8 team league

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Why dont we go the whole hog and have a four team super league. Surely the standard would be fantastic:p. Why would teams have to raise their standard to get promoted to a 8 team superleague?. The same problem has existed in the superleague for years and that is that mayo does not have enough large towns to supply 8-10 teams of similar quality.

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Originally Posted by rava

Why dont we go the whole hog and have a four team super league. Surely the standard would be fantastic:p. Why would teams have to raise their standard to get promoted to a 8 team superleague?. The same problem has existed in the superleague for years and that is that mayo does not have enough large towns to supply 8-10 teams of similar quality.

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like everything there is going to be pros and cons.
an 8 team sl would improve the standard of the prem div naturally making it tougher to get promoted and making it harder to survive in the sl.
it might not be the answer but its just an idea that has been put out there and i think it could be a decent idea.
would you not agree that this years sl is a bit boring and something needs to be done to make it more interesting??? if it is left this way will next years and the year after be the same???

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Originally Posted by hoop4life

like everything there is going to be pros and cons.
an 8 team sl would improve the standard of the prem div naturally making it tougher to get promoted and making it harder to survive in the sl.
it might not be the answer but its just an idea that has been put out there and i think it could be a decent idea.
would you not agree that this years sl is a bit boring and something needs to be done to make it more interesting??? if it is left this way will next years and the year after be the same???

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I really can't see how reducing the Super League to eight teams is going to improve standards. As someone else pointed out, every league in the world has varying degrees of quality, that's part of the attraction of the league format. More important, in my opinion, is that we never start a league again without having fully been informed of the structure that league is going to take. All kinds of difficulties and controversy could arise yet. If one of the B Teams finishes in the top two in the Premier (and you can bet Westport will), and say for example, Castlebar Celtic finish in the relegation zone of the Super, then you will obviously and justifiably have a lot of people saying that the 8 team Super League is nonsense, and that no team outside the top two in the premier should be promoted. The County town with a lot of representation in the Mayo League is going to get precedence over, say, a Partry Athletic side who have just finished fourth in the Premier. Please note this is a hypothetical example, not a dig at Celtic or anyone else. The point is, this should all be decided and verifed before the start of the season, and seen as how it doesn't seem to have been, as soon as possible. Hard to imagine what was going through their heads.

action packed game!! Went 3 up but got 2 back in extra time!! Roll on Milebush :cool:

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Originally Posted by Boro86

action packed game!! Went 3 up but got 2 back in extra time!! Roll on Milebush :cool:

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Cracking game in good conditions.

I thought the Snugboro Centre half looked assured (Mark?), someone said he used to play for Galway. From Westport, the usual suspects of Lawless, Geraty, Horkan, O Malley, Hoban and Navin, in my opinion. Is Dave Horkan back in the fold? Yet to see Ballina this season but I presume Duffy will be there anyway. Gerry Burke from Ballyheane too I guess. Anyone to add from Celtic, Erris and Manulla? What about S+F and Kilmore or further down the divisions?

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Originally Posted by FahyForever

I thought the Snugboro Centre half looked assured (Mark?), someone said he used to play for Galway. From Westport, the usual suspects of Lawless, Geraty, Horkan, O Malley, Hoban and Navin, in my opinion. Is Dave Horkan back in the fold? Yet to see Ballina this season but I presume Duffy will be there anyway. Gerry Burke from Ballyheane too I guess. Anyone to add from Celtic, Erris and Manulla? What about S+F and Kilmore or further down the divisions?

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mark mcgreal, he is playing further up the pitch recently, he used to play for galway alright, fine player. paul walsh and stevie gavin should be oscar traynor aswell.
peter burke- ballyheane
tommy walsh- manulla
peyton- ballina
o' connor- ballina
reilly- erris
2 nallens- erris
roger clarke the way hes playing wont be far off
paul fitzpatrick from s&f
cant think of anymore off the top of my head

Paul Flanagan at the Boro is a fine player too.

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Originally Posted by hoop4life

mark mcgreal, he is playing further up the pitch recently, he used to play for galway alright, fine player. paul walsh and stevie gavin should be oscar traynor aswell.
peter burke- ballyheane
tommy walsh- manulla
peyton- ballina
o' connor- ballina
reilly- erris
2 nallens- erris
roger clarke the way hes playing wont be far off
paul fitzpatrick from s&f
cant think of anymore off the top of my head

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Add Joe Keane and Gary Goggins to that list from Fahy. We're 4th in the table and will have players in the Oscar Traynor squad if we keep our current form up. Gary has hit 10 goals in 9 games this season, cant ignore that as Mayo manager and the way Joe Keane is playing at centre back cant be ignored either.

Dont think Navin will make it this year, Horkan is injured and Hoban will have to up it a gear. Gorman from Ballina, Price from Celtic and Gerry Burke and Johny O'Connor from Ballyheane will be close too.