Four-in-a-row Connaught titles well worth fighting for

MAYO have yet to beat Galway in a Connaught final under James Horan and it does look like the Mayo manager is ideally placed to correct that statistic at MacHale Park, Castlebar, on Sunday.

It is a while since we had a Mayo-Galway final in MacHale Park and the curtain-raiser throws up a mouth-watering minor final between the All-Ireland and Connaught champions, Mayo, who take on Roscommon at 12 noon.

Mayo supporters will be hoping the minors get the first leg of a double up, the feeling that the semi-final clash with Galway was the real Connaught final as Roscommon minors don’t look a patch on last year, but the main event remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Strangely enough, when Mayo and Galway last met in a Connaught final (2009), Mayo, then under John O’Mahony, won by a single point and, by a strange coincide, when they met the previous year in the final, Galway won by a point, the scoreline identical in consecutive years (2008 Galway 2-12, Mayo 1-14, and in 2009 it finished Galway 1-14, Mayo 2-12).

The low point for Galway was their only championship clash with Mayo under James Horan when they were crushed by 4-16 to 0-11 in last year’s quarterfinal in Salthill.

Mayo went on to win their third title in-a-row, facing London in last year’s final and, as the say - the rest is history.

That was then This is now. Galway are no world beaters and have come through some rough patches of their own but the capitulation and annihilation we witnessed last year is unlikely to be visited upon Galway supporters again and I expect the Tribesmen will dig as deep as they possibly can to push Mayo to the edge, and beyond if they can manage it.

They survived demotion in the league and it would seem manager Alan Mulhollland has restored pride in the jersey and discipline in the camp as he continues the process of rebuilding.

The pressure too is really on the defending champions who have set the bar high in Connaught and beyond and there is a slight suspicion that they might be running out of gas after two failed All-Ireland attempts, but if the body language from Horan and his team is anything to go by, such is not the case, and I don’t think any of these players have lost that hunger, despite some insipid performances in the league and a less than convincing win over Roscommon.

Galway may not be quite ready yet to topple the champions, who will no doubt have one eye on the four-in-a-row provincial prize, but there is no denying Horan, who has been hinting that this could be his final year, would like the golden handshake of an All-Ireland title to comfort him in his old age. That is for another day.

The Mayo manager was very relaxed and positive,when talking to the press last week and is expecting a hard game but also believes his team is on the verge   of delivering a big performance before their home supporters.

The team is relatively injury-free and his biggest headache will be the selection of the starting 15, which seems certain to be built around the solid midfield platform of Aiden and Seamus O’Shea, with Jason Gibbons and Barry Moran on stand-by.

This is an area Galway targeted against Sligo and they are expecting big games from their two mobile men in the middle, Tom Flynn and Fiontan O’Curraoin, who did all the damage against Sligo, but I think this is an area Mayo will dominate, especially with the likes of Andy Moran or Kevin McLoughlin stalking this patch for any loose ball, while Mayo’s attacking half-back line, which left some big gaps down the middle against Roscommon, may be more cautions when roaming away from home on this occasion, but Lee Keegan is unlikely to play as poorly again and one of these players will have the job of marking dangermen Shane Walsh and Danny Cummins, who did so much damage against Sligo.

Galway may take a leaf from the Roscommon book and put up a defensive wall in an effort to stop Mayo breaking at pace but the Connaught champions still have forwards of real quality in Cillian O’Connor and Alan Freeman, while the experienced Alan Dillon could start along with the promising Conor O’Shea.

There are a lot of ifs and buts about Mayo’s attacking formation but the message was very clear from Hyde Park - Andy Moran can make Mayo tick and his experience, along with Dillon, could provide the solid foundaiton for a Mayo win, as it was only when they came on against Roscommon that Mayo’s listing ship was finally steadied.

Defensively, Mayo are as solid as ever and the sextet in front of Robbie Hennelly of Tom Cunniffe (presumably fit, and if not Chris Barrett is ready for the fray), Ger Cafferkey, Keith Higgins, Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle and Donal Vaughan are as good as what is around and should be able to contain the Galway scoring threat.

Verdict: Tactically it will be an interesting game and Galway will be well motivated after that hammering last year, but quality and experience will count and Mayo should get over the line with four or five points to spare.