THERE’S AN OLD saying about replays that whichever team learns more from the first day out generally makes it through.
Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Eamonn Fitzmaurice overhauled his team, retaining just 11 players from the first game and opting for a sweeper system to slow down the Mayo attack.
In contrast, Stephen Rochford stuck with his guns, keeping Aidan O’Shea at full-back and Lee Keegan in the half-forward line.
Fitzmaurice playing with seven defenders afforded Mayo keep Keith Higgins as a spare back in front of Kieran Donaghy. Aidan O’Shea stayed behind him and dominated the skies, while Mayo bottled up the full-forward whenever he came to ground.
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“Aidan had a fine game,” said Rochford afterwards. “No doubt about that.
“It’s satisfying that we won. I thought we played well last week but others maybe thought different. I was delighted for him because he has sacrificed himself and his play for the betterment of the team. It says a lot about him.
“But you’re only as good as your last game and there is another one coming up in three weeks that we will look to be better in and that’s where our focus will be.”
Was he surprised to see Kerry go with seven defenders?
“Kerry have a lot to talented footballers and they can play the game in whatever way they want. They can play six up, four up, with a target man or a body back so we had spoken about the possibilities but we didn’t over focus on it.
“We just had to look at the things that we could improve on from last week and look to really count down on our error count which we would have been disappointed with last week. Let’s have a go.
“We did well enough to win an All-Ireland semi-final. We knew that Kerry were going to come at us really hard. We knew we would have to match that and do better. I thought we did that. It was really important that we didn’t allow Kerry to get their fast start that they had got in previous championship games. That allowed us take a hold of the game.
The All-Ireland final will be Mayo’s 10th game of a rollercoaster summer. Rochford believes they’re in good shape heading into September.
“There are always lessons to take on the days you win and obviously on the days you lose.
“Physically we are in good shape and we need to look back on the tape and see what are the areas we can get better at and how we can take the game to Dublin and Tyrone, two teams that will offer us possibly different styles and different problems.
“But we will concern ourselves with that tomorrow.”
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'He has sacrificed himself and his play for the betterment of the team. It says a lot about him'
Kevin O’Brien reports from Croke Park
THERE’S AN OLD saying about replays that whichever team learns more from the first day out generally makes it through.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice overhauled his team, retaining just 11 players from the first game and opting for a sweeper system to slow down the Mayo attack.
In contrast, Stephen Rochford stuck with his guns, keeping Aidan O’Shea at full-back and Lee Keegan in the half-forward line.
Fitzmaurice playing with seven defenders afforded Mayo keep Keith Higgins as a spare back in front of Kieran Donaghy. Aidan O’Shea stayed behind him and dominated the skies, while Mayo bottled up the full-forward whenever he came to ground.
“Aidan had a fine game,” said Rochford afterwards. “No doubt about that.
“It’s satisfying that we won. I thought we played well last week but others maybe thought different. I was delighted for him because he has sacrificed himself and his play for the betterment of the team. It says a lot about him.
“But you’re only as good as your last game and there is another one coming up in three weeks that we will look to be better in and that’s where our focus will be.”
Was he surprised to see Kerry go with seven defenders?
“Kerry have a lot to talented footballers and they can play the game in whatever way they want. They can play six up, four up, with a target man or a body back so we had spoken about the possibilities but we didn’t over focus on it.
“We just had to look at the things that we could improve on from last week and look to really count down on our error count which we would have been disappointed with last week. Let’s have a go.
“We did well enough to win an All-Ireland semi-final. We knew that Kerry were going to come at us really hard. We knew we would have to match that and do better. I thought we did that. It was really important that we didn’t allow Kerry to get their fast start that they had got in previous championship games. That allowed us take a hold of the game.
The All-Ireland final will be Mayo’s 10th game of a rollercoaster summer. Rochford believes they’re in good shape heading into September.
“There are always lessons to take on the days you win and obviously on the days you lose.
“Physically we are in good shape and we need to look back on the tape and see what are the areas we can get better at and how we can take the game to Dublin and Tyrone, two teams that will offer us possibly different styles and different problems.
“But we will concern ourselves with that tomorrow.”
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