Mayo manager James HoranDESPITE a bloodless 10-point win over the students of NUIG in the FBD Connaught League final on Friday night in McHale Park, Mayo manager James Horan said his team will need to up the ante if they are to get their national league campaign off to a winning start in Portloaise this Saturday.

Newly prompted Laois drew with Mayo when they last met three years ago in the league and Horan expects another stiff examination under floodlights on Saturday night.

While welcoming the win over John Maughans college side, Horan said the team has to improve in a few areas of they are to survive in a very tough division one league which includes the big guns Kerry, Cork and Dublin .

 

The workrate was good all over the pitch but we still have lot of things to work on and a few areas to get right, he said after Alan Dillon lifted the first piece of silverware for 2012 as Mayo retained their Connaught League, crown which includes the bonus of a trip to New York for the away final in November.

By then Mayo will have put their Connaught title on the line and will be hoping to be still on the premises when the big prize is up for grabs in September.

The important thing for Mayo was to keep the momentum going as they stretched their winning run to three games on the bounce and go into the national league in fairly confident mood.

However, Friday nights win has to be tempered with a dose of realism given the very disappointing performance from NUIG with Maughan perhaps holding back as a number of big players are involved, in the Sigerson Cup, which the Galway college will host next weekend.

Jason Doherty, Neil Douglas, Kieran Conroy and David Gavin were among the Mayo players to feature for NUIG but their impact was minimal given Mayos edge in pure class and experience.

With Horan indicating he is going to close the door early on his 30-man panel for the league it will be interesting to see if any further players are brought in.

He hinted that the panel would more or less consist of that which appeared on Friday nights programme

There was some comfort for the manager with the performance of the forward line and in particular the display of Andy Moran who is moving closer to full fitness with every outing as he recovers from that broken ankle which kept him out o the Compromise Rules Series.

The Ballaghaderreen man, who started at full-forward, was withdrawn midway through Friday nights game but nailed three good points before leaving the scene, while the excellent form of Conor Mortimer continues apace as he bagged 0-5, including four frees.

Alan Freeman also put in big shift with three scores while the workrate of Pat Harte was also a feature of Mayos winning performance.

Defensively Mayo shaped up quite well too with Westports Lee Keegan turning in an eye-catching performance at corner back. He is likely to hold his place along with Ger Cafferkey at full-back and Keith Higgins in the other corner.

The area of concern for the Mayo manager is midfield where Barry Moran and Aiden OShea struggled in the first half, the arrival of Seamus OShea improving matters with Moran moving to the edge of the square.

However, the general feeling is Horan will name the same team that started on Friday night for the clash with Laois.

Meanwhile, the clash between Mayo and Dublin scheduled for McHale Park on Saturday night, February 11, has been moved forward to a 6.30 throw-in to allow for patrons to see the Six Nations clash between Ireland and France later that evening.