What will carry weight in Clones is the display of those offered starting places

by Martin Carney, Mayo GAA's foremost columnist

IT’S hard to believe, yet it’s true: the majority of county teams at this stage have completed over half their game schedule for the year with March still a week to run.

Aside from confirming the eight competing league finalists, today be the last occasion that the other 24 teams appear until the start of championship.

After the defeat to Derry, Mayo removed themselves from the concluding script and now have, aside from the dead-rubber in Clones, set their eyes firmly on summer.

How badly Mayo wanted or needed the win over Derry is open to conjecture yet they opened with a positive intent that promised much.

Points from Jack Carney and Ryan O’Donoghue had a settling effect but a goal from Neil Loughran gave warning about Derry’s counter-attacking strengths.

Not for the first time were Mayo caught badly out of position for this score. In coping with a team who rely on speedy counter-attacking, it’s vital that players have a heightened defensive awareness.

For the goal this was non-existent. Yet the response was admirable. A slick piece of attacking acuity by Stephen Coen, Jack Carney and Jordan Flynn saw the latter fire an excellent shot into the Derry net.

For roughly the next 20 minutes the game went through the oh-so-familiar trend of lateral and backward passing, massed defending and a reluctance to dispatch the ball quickly to the forward line.

Mayo were dominant in the possession stakes: 57% was their count. They looked reasonably comfortable although the Derry wing-forwards, Ethan Doherty in particular, were dynamic through this period.

Just a point in arrears with five minutes left on the clock, and having faced a stiff wind, everything looked rosy for Mayo. Then, in a few maddening mercurial moments, Derry exploited some self- inflicted errors and went in at half-time six points to the good.

In hindsight, conceding a goal and three points without reply over the closing seven minutes was ultimately Mayo’s undoing. Sloppy restarts gifted Shane McGuigan and Brendan Rogers scores. With a little more sharpness in front of goal in this spell Derry should have added to their total but poor place-kicking in particular betrayed them.

Throughout the half none of the Mayo team could be faulted for lack of effort. Jordan Flynn continues to be a tower of strength and, though with more to come, Ryan O’Donoghue, Tommy Conroy and Aidan O’Shea had their moments.

For O’Shea this was a special day. His 100th appearance was marked by his best display in the league and, despite getting few favours from the referee, he battled gamely throughout.

Ominous bells tolled when Derry corner-back Conor McCloskey fired Derry’s third goal to the net to extend their lead to nine points. Yet character is one thing that this Mayo team has in abundance.

Proof, if it were needed, was demonstrated when over the next 20 minutes, they outscored Derry by one goal and four points to a single point.

Paul Towey’s introduction may have been a catalyst. His return of a goal and a point provided a huge lift.

Yet the improvement had, in my opinion, more to do with Mayo’s change to a more direct approach.

Some of the long passing by Ryan O’Donoghue in particular caused panic in the Derry defence and were it not for a wonderful save by the Derry goalkeeper from Jordan Flynn, the result could have gone the other way.

Though Mayo reduced arrears to two points, it is to Derry’s credit that they displayed the required composure to regroup, stretch their lead to five and see out the remaining minutes.

Whether or not Mayo’s final league fixture with Monaghan in Clones on Sunday generates much interest remains to be seen but my guess is that it will fall into the damp squib category.

Resident in Division 1 for the last 10 years, the Farney men finally ran out of players and time last weekend to repeat their annual escapology miracle of avoiding the drop to Division 2.

With injuries and retirements finally tearing the heart out of an exceptional squad, their fate looked increasingly ominous with each passing game – despite their first-round success against Dublin.

Mayo’s situation is equally clear-cut. The game carries no significance as regards qualifying for the league final. It’s of purely academic interst.

Win or lose, McStay’s men are safely ensconced in next year’s Division 1 and at the start of the competition, all involved would have been happy with this outcome.

Defensively, Mayo were exposed with worrying regularity by some outstanding Derry counter-attacking.

Perhaps this was due as much to poor positional awareness as to sub-par individual weaknesses.

If there is a wish to see some of the regulars assigned new roles, the outing offers a final competitive opportunity before championship.

Would Sam Callinan prefer a more advanced role, and would he benefit from a change to the half-back line in order to further unleash his attacking credentials?

Sometimes I think his attacking juices are soured somewhat by the man-marking duties assigned.

Today in Clones offers a chance to monitor and assess their form. It’s their final pre-championship opportunity to make a serious statement about their credentials.

A game of little consequence perhaps, but tell that to those given a chance to flourish.