A win that raises more questions than answers

Had Mayo blown this game on Sunday in Clones, their season was as good as over.

While the losers have one more crack, it is hard to escape the conclusion Mayo would have been punch-drunk waiting to be put out of their misery in Round 2B.

Coming hot on the heels of their abject display against Roscommon, the nature of the implosion in the final quarter would have been fatal had Monaghan completed the job.

Mayo led by fully eleven points with only 16 minutes to go. It seemed they had weathered a shaky third quarter but their failure to protect their own goal and to game manage when they had the ball very nearly led to the two worst successive results for a Mayo senior team since Sligo and Longford in 2010.

Instead, Mayo can be grateful to Ryan O’Donoghue for his high-risk decision to run at the Monaghan cover with two minutes to go in Clones.

O’Donoghue felt Mayo’s keep-ball build up before then was skating on thin ice so the Belmullet man decided to take decisive action.

His last two attacking plays had seen an incredible Ryan O’Toole tackle turnover followed by a blocked shot.

And it was nearly three in a row – O’Donoghue was robbed of possession in traffic but the defiance of the Belmullet man was apparent. He secured the loose ball and won a vital free – fortune favours the brave.

He popped it over and Mayo led by three. Monaghan needed a goal. Max Maguire’s floated ball towards the square carried too far and cleared the crossbar.

If O’Donoghue hadn’t won that free and Monaghan only needed a two-pointer, you’d have backed them to do it, not least because they were able to do it even when trying to manufacture a goal.

It would be hard to see Mayo salvaging something in extra-time given the momentum swing.

As it was, it was hard to see Monaghan having time for one more attack on Jack Livingstone’s last kick-out but Kobe McDonald removed any fear with a fine catch just before the hooter.

How did it come to this? Mayo were eleven points up at the break and still eleven points up after O’Donoghue’s 51st minute point made it 1-21 to 0-13.

But the warning signs were there. Mayo’s defensive fallibilities have been far too evident this year and for all that improved from the Roscommon performance on Sunday, a meaner defence was certainly not one of them.

Before the three-quarter mark, Mayo debutant goalkeeper Jack Livingstone had made no fewer than six saves as Monaghan cut through the Mayo defence at will. None of the saves were outstanding, but they were repeatedly solid and showed a great consistency of poise and positioning by a player who settled effortlessly into the role.

In general, Monaghan were extremely wasteful. Mayo’s half-time lead of eleven points was in spite of Monaghan having two more efforts at goal in the opening period.

They only scored eight times from 18 shots whereas Mayo were the epitome of efficiency, scoring 12 times from 16 shots (and six two-pointers in there).

Indeed, over the course of the full game the efficiency gulf was striking.

Mayo had a 73 percent shot conversion rate (19 scores from 26 shots – one goal, six two pointers and 12 singles) whereas Monaghan were only on 45 percent (18 scores from 40 shots).

To have 14 more shots than the opposition and lose is rare. Had they taken Kieran McGeeney’s advice and fisted over some of the goal chances, they likely would have won.

Mayo gave away a raft of goal chances in their league opener against Galway but held on to win. It doesn’t look like they’ve secured the defence to any great degree since.

The number of missed tackles and Monaghan players able to drive through the centre as if Mayo had no players there was staggering.

At the other end, while the shot efficiency numbers are very impressive, they mask Mayo’s failure to get enough shots off.

Possession wasn’t the issue – Monaghan won just two more kickouts than Mayo across the seventy minutes. It was failing to finish attacks.

In one spell after half-time, Mayo turned over the ball in the Monaghan half on five successive attacks. Under the new rules, with only 11 defenders, that is a high total for a full half. It is shocking to happen successively.

Had Mayo been more clinical in that third quarter with the attacks they did have, the game could have been put to bed.

So while there was a marked improvement in Mayo’s ability to scavenge for ball around the middle compared to the Roscommon game, there are continuing concerns at both ends of the field.

And as the second-half was going on and goal chance after goal chance was being created in front of Jack Livingstone, you had to wonder what Mayo were doing about it.

Andy Moran admitted afterwards that their preoccupation at the back was more on cutting down Monaghan’s live two-pointer threat (and they did well in this regard, conceding four while scoring six and also not conceding any long-range frees for Rory Beggan), but it left gaps for goals.

Half-time sub Bobby McCaul was a real menace in the air and had three goal chances all saved inside the first ten minutes of the second-half but Mayo failed to protect in front of him. It was interesting to hear Aidan O’Shea say afterwards he was told before the game to be ready in case he was called to come on at full-back on McCaul so the threat was well-known.

But Mayo needed extra bodies there, at least in first-phase attacks.

However, as you saw other goal chances being created by players being able to scythe through an almost non-existent Mayo defence, it made you realise more than ever that Andy Moran simply does not have the same level of quality available to him at the back as was there a decade ago.

All the more reason to try to limit one-on-one duels.

Positives? The win, first and foremost makes a route to a quarter-final easier and gives Mayo two goes at achieving that. They were much more competitive in the middle eight with particular mention for Jack Carney, Hugh O’Loughlin and Jordan Flynn.

Their inside line contributed 1-16 between them and you get the feeling there’s more in them.

By the time you read this, Mayo’s opponents in the next stages will be known. What remains to be seen is if Mayo can sort out their defensive frailties in two weeks because it is hard to see anyone else being as accommodating as Monaghan.