Familiar foe stands between Mayo and prestigious final date
Mayo League will be hoping for a repeat result of their Round 1 clash with Sligo/Leitrim when the teams meet again in Athlone this coming Sunday.
A mouthwatering all-Connacht semi-final showdown is in store in Lissywollen as Mayo and Sligo/Leitrim face off for a place in the FAI Oscar Traynor Cup final.
The sides met in the opening round with Mayo coming out on top 1-0 in Milebush thanks to a first-half Darren Browne penalty but the stakes are much higher this around.
Mayo have enjoyed a dream run up. After that narrow win over Sligo/Leitrim, all across the province stood up and took notice as they produced what arguably remains their best performance of the competition in beating Galway League 4-1, Ben Edeh grabbing the headlines with a hat-trick.
After weathering an early storm against Roscommon & District League in mid-January, Mayo flexed their muscles as they went on the beat them 4-1 to win the inaugural Connacht Oscar Traynor Provincial Cup, securing a home quarter-final against Kerry League.
Despite the step-up in opponent, Mayo never looked like losing as they went on to record a 4-2 win over the Kingdom men, with Andrew Shally’s wonder strike from 35 yards one for the highlight reel and “worth the admission fee alone”, as perfectly described by Pat O’Sullivan on commentary for Midwest Radio.
There have been challenges for much of the Mayo squad coming into this semi-final, particularly the lack of competitive games given the stop-start nature of the Mayo League season. Bar the ten Mayo players involved with Connacht for the FAI Interpros – of which Mayo League manager Joe Kelly also managed – there has been little game time.
“It has been hit and miss for the last few weeks with a lot of games cancelled or pushed back, but the group is looking strong,” said Kelly.
Mayo League have suffered a blow in the heart of defence with the loss of Cillian Redmond due to injury. Castlebar Celtic’s Mark Cunningham has been called up to the squad while in attack, Cunningham’s club teammate Jordan Loftus is back in training and vying for selection. It was expected he would feature for Celtic at some point in last Saturday’s Westaro Cup game against Crossmolina but that never materialised.
Redmond’s injury has opened the door for Cunningham to come in. The Castlebar Celtic star would have been in the initial Mayo squad last autumn but for Gaelic football commitments with Castlebar Mitchels.
“From a footballing point of view, he is a high-end footballer. He’s probably at the higher end of the junior talent in Mayo. He has slotted in seamlessly,” said Joe Kelly, adding: “When you are considering bringing someone in, does it mean shuffling other defenders? Cillian McGlade has played right-back throughout the competition and played at centre-half for the Interpros, where he was excellent. You also have the chemistry with Mark and Ioseph at Celtic. There was a lot of things to consider when you decide to bring someone in and it all added up.”
Sligo/Leitrim have been the surprise package of the tournament. They secured their spot in the quarter-final with victory over Galway League before pulling off a big shock when they defeated Wexford League 1-0 in the last eight. Kelly himself admitted he was looking at Wexford to come through that quarter-final but given the level of talent in the Sligo/Leitrim – which he saw first-hand in the Interpros – he is wary of a team that are a wounded animal after a below-par display against Mayo last October.
“We were looking at Wexford as potential opponents. That’s no disrespect to Sligo/Leitrim but it was because of the level of quality that Wexford had available to them. Secondly, they were having to travel down to Wexford.
“Even since they played us, they’ve added to their squad. But we’re looking at our squad and from one to 22, we think we have good depth. They will be waiting in the long grass and they will have learned an awful lot more in defeat to us than we would in victory over them.
“They’ve gone on a good run and are extremely confident after beating Wexford. They’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain.
“They’ve got the likes of Leo Doherty, Brian Lynch and Ronan Callaghan, a very good goalkeeper. There’s a lot of good players in their starting XI and we need to be on guard.”
