The conundrum Mayo must address before meeting Kerry
by Martin Carney
During the opening 25 or so of Mayo's victory over Kildare last weekend, the side's display littered with misplaced passes, turnovers and, quite simply, terrible shooting.
James Horan's were outplayed in nearly every sector of the pitch. Players looked leggy and weary, laboured in movement, and resembled a team who had left all their energy on the training ground.
This is a conundrum that Horan has to address and find answers to before meeting Kerry next weekend.
The midfield pairing of Aidan O’Shea and Matthew Ruane were unable to establish a foothold in the area and come to terms with the dominance of Kevin Feely and Kevin O’Callaghan.
The Kildare duo were everywhere; fielding, linking play, covering effectively while at the same time curtailing the influence of the Breaffy lads.
A yawning gap through the central defensive area was also apparent and, indeed, the aforementioned O’Callaghan and Feely managed to find the target from this pocket on three occasions in the opening half.
Flooding their defence with every player available, Kildare drove Mayo to the wings, created cul-de-sacs and reduced the attacking prowess of the Mayo front line to zero.
On reflection, just as was the case with Monaghan in the previous round, had Kildare shown a bit more enterprise and invested more in their attacking game they might well have reached the quarterfinal.
Instead, though clearly second best, Mayo managed to stay in a contest that they had no right to.
Slivers of hope kept appearing.
Lee Keegan’s inspiring score found a copyright response from his Westport colleague Eoghan McLaughlin on two occasions before the break.
These strikes coupled to Kildare’s profligacy meant that Mayo faced just a three-point deficit at the break in a game where by then they should have been comprehensively in Kildare’s rear view mirror.
Why is it that so many Mayo players looked off the pace?
Three early wides and a couple of kicks that dropped short did nothing for the confidence.
A collective malaise from then took root where too many in the forward line seemed content to leave the work to others and no one was able to provide the required leadership.
An out of sorts Jason Doherty was replaced before the break but in truth it might well have been any one of three or four others.
Certainly, a lame and disjointed opening to the second half didn’t give cause for optimism as Kildare went on to stretch their lead to six points.
The guile of Ben Mc Cormack and, in particular, the power plays of Daniel Flynn were threatening to turn this game into a rout and give Kildare a confidence boosting win.
How come then that Mayo won?
Well, gradually from nowhere flickers of energy and belief began to appear.
For years I have despaired at the lack of impact from the Mayo bench coupled to management's failure to make changes that would improve matters. Thankfully this time the changes brought the sought-after solutions.
The dynamic of the team changed with the introduction of Fergal Boland and Padraig O’Hora.
O’Hora’s arrival allowed Lee Keegan to man the centre-half position, from where he began to apply his wonderful repertoire of skills.
Boland added spark to the attack and was fearless when it came to attempting scores.
His example rubbed off on a previously anonymous Conor Loftus as he and Diarmuid O’Connor found their ranges from distance.
That hat-trick of points between the 43rd and 46th minute seemed to remind Mayo that they still had the wherewithal to reverse matters.
Lee Keegan, with his newfound outfield freedom, nailed a beauty but if ever a game had a pivotal moment it had to revolve around the heroic block executed by Enda Hession.
The Garrymore man has grown in confidence over the season.
His indefatigable approach came to the rescue midway through the second half when he somehow thwarted Daniel Flynn from scoring a goal that, had it succeeded, would have stretched Kildare’s lead to eight. Instead, on the turnover, Cillian pointed and the lead was reduced to four.
That play seemed to re-invigorate an erstwhile dormant Mayo.
As proof of this the wonderful one-two between O’ Hora and Oisin Mullin that paved the way for the latter’s goal tore Kildare’s confidence to shreds and provided the dose of self-belief that sustained the winners to the final whistle.
Mayo were transformed. Fergal Boland’s point put Mayo ahead for the first time late in the half while scores from fellow substitutes Darren McHale and Jordan Flynn (please Jordan to your dying day say you meant it!) left a barely believable five points between the teams at the final whistle.
At this stage of the season results are all that matter but if future performances mirror what we saw on last Saturday it will be au revoir 2022 on Sunday week.