Mayo's more attack-conscious approach provides basis for championship optimism

by Martin Carney, Mayo GAA's foremost columnist

BEFORE a ball was ever thrown in last weekend, the main issue I grappled with was guessing how strong the respective teams were likely to be.

Would the managers show their full hands or remain content by affording time to the untried in particular?

Many of the panellists had remained on the fringes since the commencement of the league. In essence, then, this was the last opportunity before championship to gauge their current form.

Listening to their public utterances, it’s clear that appearing in the league final was low on the priority listings of nearly all of the Division 1 managers.

Andy Moran and Mark Dowd had been less open about their views but Jim McGuinness, Donegal’s manager, was particularly unequivocal in stating that a league final appearance meant little to him.

Now that he’s there today in the decider with Kerry, it will be interesting to see how he will reset his personal focus and transmit this to his players.

At a well-attended Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, it was clear from looking at the starting Mayo and Roscommon lineouts that the priority for both mangers was to give game time to as many as possible from the wider squad.

Mayo, with eight changes from the defeat to Kerry, and Roscommon, with nine newcomers from the team that magnificently put Donegal to the sword a week earlier, looked well below full strength.

Irrespective, I expected a big game from Mayo. Such was the nature of their defeat to Kerry that anything other than a full-blooded performance wouldn’t have been acceptable.

The opening 20 minutes of the game conveyed a sense of contest. Roscommon, with an opening point from Ben O’Carroll, looked lively and interested.

On a number of occasions they ran at and exposed the Mayo defence but failed to trouble the scoreboard operator.

Diarmuid Duffy, Cian McHale and Aidan O’Shea responded for the home side who, wind-aided, managed to keep their forward division well fed with plentiful ball.

Though Ben O’Carroll’s 19th minute goal restored parity, Roscommon by that stage had begun to looked vulnerable.

By the 25th minute they were forced into making three substitutions and whatever cohesion they may have initially had disappeared.

To add to their woes, Mayo indulged in a blistering four-goal bonanza between then and the interval that saw them depart to the dressing room at the break 15 points to the good.

Paul Towey struck first. Benefitting from the work of Aidan O’Shea and Ryan O’Donoghue, he showed commendable calm in finding the corner of the net.

A minute or two later Jack Carney repeated the dose. By then Carney, aided and abetted primarily by Sam Callinan, Jordan Flynn and David McBrien, had neutralised anything Roscommon had to offer.

Carney’s goal was the culmination of a particularly industrious spell of attacking football.

Their third and fourth goals before the interval came in contrasting ways. O’Shea used his considerable strength to hold off his marker and find the bottom corner of the net for the third.

The fourth, scored by O’Donoghue, came from the penalty spot. Penalty taking is an aspect of the game that I feel has failed Mayo in big games over the years.

O’Donoghue’s last effort a few weeks ago went high over the bar. His stance, run up to the ball and conviction with the strike itself was particularly encouraging.

Those four goals in that short period effectively ended the game as a contest.

Two other players did much to attract attention for the right reason during the game.

Hugh O’Loughlin, not only by scoring two points but on the back of some excellent fielding, gave supporters a chance to see what he has to offer.

The other player I’d single out was Cian McHale.

During the week he was named in the Sigerson Cup Team of the Year on the back of his performances in the competition.

He ended the game with three points to his credit but over the course of the 70 minutes, here was a player who gave the impression of being capable of combining calm with precision when the opportunities arrive.

The Moy Davitts man possesses excellent instincts that can bring others into play and tracking his progress this summer will be interesting.

In truth, Mayo’s goal tally could have been much higher. David McBrien and Jordan Flynn left a few good opportunities go a-begging but on a day when the team ended with 15 different scorers and only registered one two-pointer, the search for and conversion of four goal opportunities was a welcome highlight.

An opening six-point scoring blitz at the start of the second period created an air of inevitability long before the final whistle.

Roscommon were understandably understrength. Their ambitions and hopes were similar to those of Mayo.

With Division 1 status secure, manager Mark Dowd seemed, like Andy Moran, keen to give fringe players game time and assess their form on this basis.

What he wouldn’t have banked on, expected or needed to receive was the nature of the beating they suffered.

Watching them endure the second half they had to face was tough going. I don’t ever believe that a team deliberately goes out to play poorly but the way his charges wilted without any meaningful resistance will be a source of worry.

Mayo, on the other hand, rediscovered their winning habit and though understrength, they played with a sense of conviction all through.

Seeing Tommy Conroy bouncing around the pitch like a spring lamb when he was introduced was greeted with great enthusiasm by the Mayo faithful.

Likewise, Cillian O’Connor will be glad of some game time before the curtain comes up for championship.

All told, the league has served Mayo well. Albeit there were disappointing performances against Donegal and Kerry, yet overall the inevitable teething period that greets every new manager was negotiated successfully.

New style, new players and a more attack-conscious approach that yielded some excellent wins leaves the team poised for an interesting championship campaign.