Favourites Mayo taking nothing for granted in Nickey Rackard Cup final

As one of the more experienced players in the Mayo senior hurling team, Eoghan Collins is at pains to point out that nothing can be taken for granted when contesting an All-Ireland final – as Mayo are doing today (Saturday) when they face Roscommon in the Nickey Rackard Cup decider in Croke Park, writes Aiden Henry.

Collins believes that one has only to look at results in both codes this year to see that you cannot take any team for granted.

“A final takes on a life of its own,” he adds, “no matter who you are playing against. When you throw your near neighbours in for good measure, it definitely takes on a life of its own. So you can be sure of one thing – we won’t be focusing on the fact that we beat them (Roscommon) twice this year. We know what we have to do in that we have to try and produce our best performance of the year in order to win.”

Collins continues: “Going back to the group stages, we had some close games and a few below-par displays. Like against Louth, we fell asleep for the first 20/25 minutes and it took a few harsh words at half-time to get us into gear. But I think that shows the character of the team – that when it was laid on the line we stepped up and won rather comfortably in the end.

“However, it does show if we are not at our peak you can struggle in games. So next weekend, we will be hoping to settle early and well, and get into out stride from the off. We will need to, as Roscommon will come at us straight away.

“You look at some unexpected results in both hurling and football this year and it shows you can’t take anything for granted. Yes, at the end of the day we want to get to the Christy Ring Cup, and we see this game against Roscommon as the final hurdle to get there.

“We lost last year. We felt we had a great opportunity going up there (to Croke Park) but lost to Donegal. We played well for 60 minutes but just didn’t get over the line. So the objective at the beginning of the year was to put in a good league to settle us in nicely for the championship in order to get back to the final and go one step further.”

The Ballyhaunis hurler believes the squad is stronger this year. “The new lads, Siomon (Thomas) and Ryan (Duffy), have made a great impact and have driven things on for us. Also, a couple lads have come back – Jason Coyne and Mark Phillips – who had been away in Australia, and this has made the squad that much stronger.

“Maybe we didn’t get as much off the bench last year as we hoped. But I think we are in healthier position this year with the squad we have. Look, two weeks ago 13 started against Fermanagh who hadn’t started the week before. So I think that leads up to great competition for starting places as well as the 26-man match day squad.”

Getting to Croke Park is a dream for Collins, as it is for every young person who plays Gaelic games. “It a big pitch too, which suits us,” said Collins. “However, most of our squad have already played in Croke Park, be it with Mayo or Tooreen, and we all should have plenty of experience to deal with playing in one of the finest sporting stadiums you would get anywhere.

“But it is all about producing the goods on the day. Hopefully we can come up with the kind of performance that is required to win big games like this,” Collins concludes.

The strong panel is something Mayo manager Ray Larkin alludes to also. “I think we're much fitter this year and in a much better place, with a stronger panel. But that means nothing if you go to Croke Park and don't win it.

“We're in a good place though. We know Roscommon pretty well. I think they have one or two players back that they didn't have when we played them the first day. But training has gone well and we're happy enough.”

For Larkin, today's final allows for the opportunity of wiping the slate clean following last year's defeat to Donegal and adding the Nickey Rackard Cup to the Allianz National League Division 3 title secured just a few weeks ago. It's shaping up to be a very fine year indeed for the Mayo hurlers, with just one final hurdle remaining to clear.

Today's Nickey Rackard Cup final between Mayo and Roscommon throws in at 1 p.m. in Croke Park. The game is being streamed live on the Sport TG4 YouTube channel.