Mayo ramp up pressure on themselves and it's make or break now

by Martin Carney, foremost commentator on Mayo GAA

IT’S funny the way the mind works. Maybe it had to do with the sun – that’s my excuse anyhow – but all week I had a bad feeling about Cavan coming to town.

It had nothing to do with their record against Mayo. No! It’s quite a while since they claimed a Green and Red scalp in championship football – 1948 indeed. It had to do with what happened elsewhere the previous weekend.

Here we had visitors coming to town who in their league campaign had recorded wins over Louth and Meath, teams who provided an edge-of-your-seat thriller in the Leinster final, and representing a province that had delivered an all-time classic Ulster final on the same weekend.

Cavan had danced with the finest. I had a sense that they were worthy of greater respect than was the case with the general public in the lead-up to Sunday.

My worst fears were, alas, realised. Cavan arrived to Hastings Insurance MacHale Park and delivered a coup de grace with a performance that contained all of the metrics expected from a team on a mission.

To begin with they were hungry and competitive. From the first whistle they took the game to Mayo, imposed their formula and displayed an energy and purpose that the home team lacked all afternoon.

The tone was set over the course of the opening 10 minutes. Cavan owned the ball, played it from side to side, and though with little to show on the scoreboard, had Mayo chasing shadows.

On a day of baking heat where the thermometer rarely sank below 24 degrees, this sapped Mayo of much of the required energy and life needed.

Their early scores from the impressive Cormac O’ Reilly and centre half-back Ciaran Brady had an immediate settling effect.

Brady, impressive throughout, manned the central channel in masterful fashion, drove forward whenever needed, and set the tone that those around him responded to.

Mayo, during this opening phase, defended deeply – perhaps too much so on refection – and may have had more joy had they imposed a press further afield that was the case.

I thought that the lengthy delay early in the game due to midfielder Barry Donnelly’s injury might have had the effect of stalling Cavan's early momentum. It did to a degree, but not enough to throw their approach off course.

Mayo registered their first score on 17 minutes, a Ryan O’Donoghue point. He added a two-pointer from a free soon after and further scores from Darren McHale, a brace from Stephen Coen, and a late effort from Mattie Ruane left Mayo three up at the break. In many ways the margin flattered the home team.

Their display was lacklustre, lacking in drive and hunger, and betrayed by a continuum of errors that was unworthy of them. After all, this same Mayo 12 months earlier had accounted for Cavan by 11 points at the same stage of the championship in front of an attendance of 9,500.

This time, with roughly 2,000 fewer at the game, Cavan showed up fortified by a determination that a repeat wouldn’t be on the cards. They brought very few followers.

The vast majority present were home supporters; the dearth of Cavan support possibly was a reflection of how they were seen from within their own county.

Like nearly everyone in the stadium, I expected a transformed Mayo after the break.

The half-time heart-to-heart between players and management, I felt, would have pointed out the areas needed for improvement and laid out solutions to address the flaws.

Whatever transpired didn’t have the desired effect and anyhow Cavan were in no mood to comply. A goal by Gerard Smith followed by points from Cormac O’Reilly and the ageless Padraig Faulkner threw down the challenge to Mayo.

Whereas frustration was ever-present in the opening period from misplaced passes, turnovers and generally sloppy play, the second period brought no improvement in these areas.

Indeed, Cavan’s goal after the break came as a result of one of the innumerable turnovers that were a feature of Mayo’s display. With an early second-half lead established, Cavan were in no mood to squander and for the rest of the game kept daylight between themselves and their opponents.

Stephen Coen, with a couple of points, narrowed the margin to one, but that was as good as it got. With Ryan O’Donoghue, for the most part, under lock and key, others failing to have a cut at two-pointers and a couple of goal-scoring opportunities spurned, the road became increasingly uphill.

Cavan, to their credit, were outstanding. Their self-belief was manifest, their economy of movement in attack impressive, and their finishing inspirational. Their speed on the counter attack was too much for a Mayo defence that left huge gaps around the half-back line.

To a degree, this space was an inevitable outcome for a team who were forced to press upfield more than usual.

Oisin Kiernan exploited the gaps left with four points, substitute Cian Madden struck three beauties from play, Dara McVeety put the finishing touch to some great approach work from Faulkner, and talisman Paddy Lynch, making a return after 12 months absent from injury, struck one to announce his return.

Mayo, in contrast, got little from their bench. Paddy Durcan’s return was welcome but on a sweltering afternoon, I felt that some of the changes occurred too late to make a difference.

What was particularly deflating in this second half was the response from Mayo. Except for Stephen Coen and Aidan O’Shea, too many seemed to lack the fire needed.

Much of their attacking ended with nothing to show for it, while poor decision-making, inaccuracy and sloppiness were at the heart of much of what they tried.

After Mattie Ruane struck a fine score with 15 minutes left to play, his team failed to add anything to their total until that late flurry of one goal and two points in injury time. O’Shea’s goal was a mere consolation score and reduced the margin to three on the final whistle.

As Kevin McStay himself pointed out, the final margin flattered a team that was a mere shadow of that which turned out against Galway two weeks earlier in the Connacht final.

This was a massive setback for the current squad and management.

To their credit their efforts never flagged, but Mayo were a distant second on the day. Searching for answers will wait another while but the Mayo we saw last Sunday played as if they had never met before and had little variation with their attacks. Quite simply, Cavan were able to trump anything Mayo threw at them.

Three advance from the group so all is not lost. Yet if the Mayo we saw last Sunday reappear next Saturday week against Tyone in Omagh, the death knell for this season's football will ring loud and clear.