Mayo ready for challenge of 'Galwayáticos'
Jason Hunt scoring Mayo’s second goal as they defeated Sligo/Leitrim 4-1 in their Oscar Traynor opener. Picture: John Corless
The result was all that mattered against Sligo/Leitrim last month, but Mayo League will need the performance along with it this Sunday when they take on the might of Galway in the Oscar Traynor Cup this Sunday.
On paper, it looked a routine win in MacSharry Park but there was certainly a little rustiness in Mayo’s performance on the day. That lack of competitive friendlies didn’t help their cause but as far as manager Joe Kelly was concerned, coming back to Mayo with maximum points was the main goal “The year previous we had the comfort of being able to play a few friendlies and we didn't have that comfort this time,” said Kelly. “That wasn't available to us purely because of the calendar and the scheduling of games and stuff like that teams kind of caught up with other stuff. The League of Ireland was very busy at the time so we hadn’t the joy of playing a Sligo or Galway United. That was definitely a problem coming into it. You could see from the performance, it was a little bit rusty.” “We were going down to Sligo. We played them twice last year. We had two very, very hard battles against them.
“The scoreline was impressive. The performance was definitely rusty. But it was our first game out, and someone came to us before and said we’d win that comfortably. I’d have been delighted. Performance-wise, it was patchy to say the least. But we got there.” A brace from former League of Ireland star Padraic Cunningham helped Galway to a 2-0 win over Roscommon and District league although on the day, it could have a lot more. Possessing a stacked squad full of former LOI talent, Kelly is expecting a much stiffer test now this time around compared to last year, where Mayo stunned them 4-1 in Eamon Deacy Park.
“Quality wise, they are, as I do call them, the Galwayácticos. They're stacked. They have so many ex-League of Ireland players in that group. A lot of their players have played at a real high end of football, right up to coming back to junior football. They've experienced, they've the quality and they have a really, really deep squad in that as well.” “It's always going to be the toughest game in the group. It's nice to have it at home this time because I suppose with the way the draws done you get one at home, you get two away. We've obviously got the home advantage this time and I think that's important to us and it's a very good game for the soccer public to see in Mayo all because they're two very, very, very good sides. Players know each other really well through competitions as well so Galway are absolutely stacked.
“I'm not even saying this in terms of taking any pressure off players, but they would be the clear favourites in the game based on the personnel that they have. But in terms of the way we play, the team vibe and everything we have, I think we’ll give them a good game.” The game is part of a Mayo League v Galway League double header in Milebush this Sunday, with the U18 Inter-League opener preceding it. Kelly is impressed with the squad that Chirs MacGauley and his management team have put together and hopes they stick around to watch the seniors in action to give them a taste of what could lie in store for them in future.
“They can see, if they stay playing soccer in the county, what fruits they can bear and I think that's important for them because usually those under-18 inter-league games, they might be playing on a Saturday.
“The atmosphere might not be too great there, there might not be too many people out of it,whereas now they're part of a bigger occasion on Sunday.
“I think that's a great one for them because there is some really, really good players in that under-18 team as well and lads that are very, very committed to soccer as well. It's good that both of them have fallen at the same time.”
