GAA Digest: Dublin lose badly to Mayo

DUBLIN boss Pat Gilroy admitted his side have real problems after the All-Ireland champions were well beaten by Mayo in Castlebar on Saturday night and had two players sent off in the process.

The re-arranged NFL game saw early baths for Paul Flynn and Dairymaid Connolly in a 12-point defeat for the Dubs, who have now had seven players sent-off this year.

“We really have to sit down and look at that sharply or else we will have a very short year,” said a disappointed Gilroy.

“Very poor discipline from us. They weren’t the only guys, the two lads that got sent off. Our discipline and our general intensity all night wasn’t great.

“Nobody in there could have seen that coming. We were even worse than we were against Down in terms of our application. As a group, we need to look at the reasons why that happened. We clearly have to eliminate it.

“We never got near the pitch of that game. From start to finish there was only one team in it.”

Mayo forward Conor Mortimer set a new scoring record for his county on the night, and teammate Andy Moran wasn’t surprised by the Connacht side’s victory or form.

Moran said, “Since the start of the year, we’ve had one bad performance. That bad performance was in Ballyshannon, when I don’t think we played at all.

“For the last two weeks, we had everyone at training for the first time. We have twelve guys in Dublin, we had six guys on the under-21s.

“We need to time it right, to get these boys back. In the eight sessions, we have had everyone at training, which has made a big difference.

“We couldn’t have had them coming down since January 1. James had to time it right. We have had them down the last two weeks and I think the two performances show what difference that makes.

“We had a lot of advantages. We were on our own patch here in front of a big crowd. I can’t control what people think. All we can control is what’s inside the dressingroom. As James said before the game, we know we are playing well.”

Kilkenny Wins

KILKENNY returned to form in some style as they annihilated Galway in Nowlan Park on Sunday to book their place in the NHL semifinals.

A week after their defeat to Cork on Leeside, the All-Ireland champions were back to their brilliant best as they responded to manager Brian Cody’s criticism.

“We wanted a response to the Cork defeat and we got it,” said Cody after Sunday’s win. “We were out-hurled by Cork in most aspects of the game, and we looked for a response from the players, and we got that. In fairness, we got a decent response.

“Now Galway will be very disappointed -- it’s not to Galway form at all. And we’re not suggesting that we were very, very good today. But we were decent and we capitalized on a poor day for Galway. That’s the way it works.

“Galway hurlers have terrific skill and they know themselves this has been a bad day for them, and that will change very, very quickly.

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Nster.com