ON A GORGEOUS Saturday evening in Croke Park, Mayo’s players jumped around with joy as the final whistle sounded on their one-point victory over Tyrone.
It guaranteed them an All-Ireland semi-final spot for the sixth straight year and they’ve become the first Connacht county to achieve that feat. Given that statistic you’d be forgiven for thinking another trip to the last four would be seen as routine for these players.
Not this time around. The difference in 2016 is that this Mayo group have be pilloried for most of the year. After the players ousted joint managers Pat Holmes and Noel Connolly last winter, the public perception of Mayo changed somewhat.
After an indifferent league, they fell to Galway in Connacht. Pretty soon, the vultures circled as they lay on the canvas. They were publicly questioned. Mentally soft. Not enough leaders. Tactically inept.
But the run through the qualifiers has turned this Mayo team around. Slowly but surely they’ve started to iron out some of the kinks that blighted their early season form.
“At the end of the day once it gets to August, it’s a different story because if you go on a run in the qualifiers you can get momentum, and you can catch a team on the hop,” Ryan McMenamin told RTÉ 2fm’s Game On in the build-up to the game.
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“There’s one team I’d be wary of: Mayo. I’ve watched them. They remind me of what happened us [Tyrone] in ’08. They’re sticking to the system. Slowly but surely you can see the confidence coming back into the team.”
And so it proved on Saturday. For three straight years at the end of the last decade, Tyrone, Kerry and Cork won the All-Ireland after picking up form in the qualifiers. Mayo are two games away from repeating that trick.
They only played in fits and starts during wins over Fermanagh, Kildare and Westmeath, but remember how Kerry limped past Longford, Sligo and Antrim before claiming glory in 2009?
Tactically, Mayo struggled at times this year but they delivered a strategic masterclass against a Tyrone outfit who were unbeaten in 2016. Kevin McLoughlin is growing into his sweeper role and was quick to push out onto oncoming Tyrone attackers.
Defensively they looked well set-up and players like Colm Boyle and Lee Keegan showed an excellent positional sense.
Mayo had leaders on every line and Stephen Rochford showed his nous by sticking in Alan Dillon from the start with the requirement of finding Andy Moran with early, long kick passes.
It was interesting to note Tony McEntee’s role on Saturday. The former All-Ireland winner with Armagh was listed as the maor uisce on the match program. He was regularly out on the field, giving instructions to players and coordinating Mayo’s attack and defence.
As a result, Mayo’s speedy decision-making from the line was highly effective. They closed the game out near the end and sat deep, inviting a naturally defensive team in Tyrone to come out and break them down.
Mayo now find themselves back in an All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary, who’ll come out to play ball.
“Listen today’s only a quarter-final and we’ve been here many times before,” Lee Keegan said after the game. “The semi-final is a bigger game again. Tipperary are our next challenge.”
Mayo won’t look past Tipperary, but barring a disaster they should be too street-wise and experienced for Liam Kearns’s men. There’s every chance we’ll be treated to a Mayo-Dublin All-Ireland final in September and nobody came closer to dumping out the Dubs last year than the Westerners.
It seemed almost laughable a month ago but Mayo now appear to be the best placed team to stop Jim Gavin’s all-conquering side.
After all the doubters, Mayo find themselves back in the last four and brimming with confidence. They’ve made it back to the main stage after spending a couple of months figuring things out off-Broadway.
It’s like they’ve never been away.
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Backdoor route could be the key to Mayo scaling the September summit
ON A GORGEOUS Saturday evening in Croke Park, Mayo’s players jumped around with joy as the final whistle sounded on their one-point victory over Tyrone.
It guaranteed them an All-Ireland semi-final spot for the sixth straight year and they’ve become the first Connacht county to achieve that feat. Given that statistic you’d be forgiven for thinking another trip to the last four would be seen as routine for these players.
Not this time around. The difference in 2016 is that this Mayo group have be pilloried for most of the year. After the players ousted joint managers Pat Holmes and Noel Connolly last winter, the public perception of Mayo changed somewhat.
After an indifferent league, they fell to Galway in Connacht. Pretty soon, the vultures circled as they lay on the canvas. They were publicly questioned. Mentally soft. Not enough leaders. Tactically inept.
But the run through the qualifiers has turned this Mayo team around. Slowly but surely they’ve started to iron out some of the kinks that blighted their early season form.
“At the end of the day once it gets to August, it’s a different story because if you go on a run in the qualifiers you can get momentum, and you can catch a team on the hop,” Ryan McMenamin told RTÉ 2fm’s Game On in the build-up to the game.
“There’s one team I’d be wary of: Mayo. I’ve watched them. They remind me of what happened us [Tyrone] in ’08. They’re sticking to the system. Slowly but surely you can see the confidence coming back into the team.”
And so it proved on Saturday. For three straight years at the end of the last decade, Tyrone, Kerry and Cork won the All-Ireland after picking up form in the qualifiers. Mayo are two games away from repeating that trick.
They only played in fits and starts during wins over Fermanagh, Kildare and Westmeath, but remember how Kerry limped past Longford, Sligo and Antrim before claiming glory in 2009?
Tactically, Mayo struggled at times this year but they delivered a strategic masterclass against a Tyrone outfit who were unbeaten in 2016. Kevin McLoughlin is growing into his sweeper role and was quick to push out onto oncoming Tyrone attackers.
Defensively they looked well set-up and players like Colm Boyle and Lee Keegan showed an excellent positional sense.
Mayo had leaders on every line and Stephen Rochford showed his nous by sticking in Alan Dillon from the start with the requirement of finding Andy Moran with early, long kick passes.
It was interesting to note Tony McEntee’s role on Saturday. The former All-Ireland winner with Armagh was listed as the maor uisce on the match program. He was regularly out on the field, giving instructions to players and coordinating Mayo’s attack and defence.
As a result, Mayo’s speedy decision-making from the line was highly effective. They closed the game out near the end and sat deep, inviting a naturally defensive team in Tyrone to come out and break them down.
Mayo now find themselves back in an All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary, who’ll come out to play ball.
“Listen today’s only a quarter-final and we’ve been here many times before,” Lee Keegan said after the game. “The semi-final is a bigger game again. Tipperary are our next challenge.”
Mayo won’t look past Tipperary, but barring a disaster they should be too street-wise and experienced for Liam Kearns’s men. There’s every chance we’ll be treated to a Mayo-Dublin All-Ireland final in September and nobody came closer to dumping out the Dubs last year than the Westerners.
It seemed almost laughable a month ago but Mayo now appear to be the best placed team to stop Jim Gavin’s all-conquering side.
After all the doubters, Mayo find themselves back in the last four and brimming with confidence. They’ve made it back to the main stage after spending a couple of months figuring things out off-Broadway.
It’s like they’ve never been away.
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Comment GAA Stephen Rochford Mayo