Latest news with #CiaranWhelan
Irish Daily Mirror
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Galway had 'more leaders' than Mayo, Dublin legend tells The Sunday Game
Ciaran Whelan reminded Mayo of their major weakness after their forwards bottled it yet again. The beaten Connacht finalists have made losing tight games a habit after blowing it against Galway yesterday on the back of tight losses to Galway and Derry in last year's Championship plus their failure to hold onto a lead against Dublin in last season's group stages. And Dubs legend Whelan did not hold back in his criticism of Kevin McStay's team. Read more: Colm Boyle column: Ref decision to deny Mayo a two-pointer was the wrong call - it cost us Read more: Mayo v Galway score recap as the Tribesmen win their fourth Connacht title in a row He said: 'They went level with 16 minutes to go. Their weakness was in their front six. There were not many leaders who could step up. 'Their Achilles heel has been that inability to finish the game off. 'The game was there for them but Galway to their credit showed brilliant resilience and just had more leaders on the pitch. It is as simple as that.' Mayo boss Kevin McStay added: 'Our accuracy let us down once the pressure came on. We had some really good goal chances and you have got to take at least 50 per cent of them if not the majority of them.' Former Mayo player Cora Staunton said: 'They had nine shots in the last 15 minutes and only got two scores. They will be really disappointed with that.'
Irish Daily Mirror
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
GAA officials told to tweak two point rule or else face 'significant challenges'
Dubs legend Ciaran Whelan has called on the GAA's top brass to tweak one of their new rules and avert Championship chaos. Speaking on The Sunday Game, Whelo praised the new rules for enhancing the quality of Championship matches, saying: 'The quality of the Mayo-Galway game is a credit to the new rules.' But one of those new rules caused controversy yesterday. With the score at 1-13 apiece, Ryan O'Donoghue's effort for Mayo cleared the crossbar before being touched by Galway keeper, Connor Gleeson. Read more: Colm Boyle column: Ref decision to deny Mayo a two-pointer was the wrong call - it cost us It should have been a two-pointer but because the officials considered Gleeson's intervention to have occurred before it cleared the crossbar, it was ruled as one point, denying Mayo the lead for the first time in the game. They ended up losing by two points. Afterwards Whelan said: 'That two point call was hugely important. 'This could be a significant issue with the new rules down the line. 'Games could be decided by one point and they could be won and lost with a call like this, where the shot is from over the line, or when a player gets a finger tip to it. 'It is a delicate one and it could lead to significant challenges down the line. 'There are pros and cons to the two pointer and that is one of the weaknesses.' Mayo legend Cora Staunton added: 'You don't want an All-Ireland semi-final or final to be decided on a call like that where they are unsure if the goalie touched the ball (after) it went over the bar.'
