Astonishing resurgence brings good Mayo vibes

It’s been a strange enough league season thus far, with new rules, massive scoring, huge comebacks and teams trying to avoid reaching the League Finals. It’s been difficult to grasp exactly where any team truly stands. It has certainly been entertaining and enjoyable, but still difficult to get a clear read on it all.

In fighting tooth and nail to avoid relegation, Mayo may just squeeze into this year’s National Football League Division 1 Final. It’s been quite a turnaround to Mayo’s season. After a winter of discontent and a slow start to the campaign, negativity abounded around the county. When you analyse it carefully and rationally though, Mayo have only really had one awful day out and unfortunately it came against our nearest and dearest neighbours in Round 2. In all fairness, every team in the country has had at least one bad day out so far in this campaign.

Confidence was on the floor after that Galway game. The Mayo players, living and working amongst their people, will not have been oblivious to the ill-feeling and pessimistic outlook which was everywhere in February. Kevin McStay and his players deserve great credit for arresting that slide and picking themselves back up off the canvas. Mayo players have a pep in their step right now and seem to be back enjoying their football.

It helps having most of your top players available once again. Aidan O’Shea and Jordan Flynn’s returns have really added leadership and presence to a Mayo side which looked rudderless in earlier rounds. Mattie Ruane’s return to form is probably the biggest reason for optimism ahead of the summer’s championship. He is rampant right now and definitely back to his pre-2021 All-Ireland Final form. You know Ruane is playing well when he’s running straight at defences and getting his shots off. As his form dipped in recent seasons, doubt crept in and he wouldn’t take on every shot that presented itself. But, by God, his shooting on Sunday and in recent weeks has been masterful. He is really accurate off left and right and six points from play for a midfielder is a phenomenal haul.

Ruane was a worthy recipient of Man of the Match after an awesome display. It took that virtuoso performance, though, to stop Ryan O’Donoghue from earning another MOTM gong. The Erris extraordinaire is an incredible player. Apart from the obvious skill and pace, he’s as strong as a small bull. Stuff just happens every time he gets on the ball and there aren’t too many forwards ahead of him in Ireland on this form. David Clifford is probably the only one in Ireland I would swap him for, and even then, I’d hesitate, as a Mayo without ROD is unimaginable. Like Mayo, his rejuvenation since the earlier rounds has been highly impressive. Invariably, when he plays well, Mayo get moving too.

While Ruane and O’Donoghue carried the scoring can in the first-half when the game was in the balance, Frank Irwin joined the party in the second-half. Irwin certainly knows where the posts are and has contributed well to the scoreboard in each round so far. Every game he plays and scores in will boost his confidence and help him feel at home at this level.

As belief increases, patterns of play are beginning to emerge and Mayo fashioned some lovely scores. The increased space and absence of 15-man blankets is suiting Mayo’s attacking game.

Enda Hession did a fine marking job on Ethan Doherty too. That went a long way towards nullifying Derry’s threat as Doherty is a lynchpin in their attack and makes things tick. Any day you keep Shane McGuigan to four points is a good day and Donnacha McHugh can be content with his efforts tracking the Slaughneil man. Colm Reape was as safe as houses under the high ball and is quietly developing in to a fine keeper. He’s also good at getting a fingernail on long-range shots, converting them from two-pointers to one-pointers.

After a competitive first-half, Jordan Flynn’s cracking goal after the buzzer probably sucked a lot of the life out of Derry as they did not come out at all in the second-half. They look a beaten docket at the minute. It’s hard to believe that they were brilliant league champions just eleven months ago. The Rory Gallagher affair and a series of unpopular managerial appointments seems to have sucked the life out of their players and supporters. Their players look joyless at the moment and it’s a pity as they have some really good players. Conor Glass’s two pointers in the second-half were glorious but he cut a frustrated figure as everything fell to pieces around him. The Northerners travails are not Mayo’s problem, but there is a good team in Derry if they can get their house in order.

So, a league final is now a real, live possibility. A Mayo win against a checked-out Donegal and a loss for either Dublin or Galway would remarkably see Mayo reach another Croker decider. Dublin and Galway will both have their work cut out to defeat relegation-threatened Tyrone and Kerry. A final appearance on March 30 is very much on.

It’s curious that Donegal seem to be doing everything in their power to avoid getting there. I know Jimmy McGuinness has his eyes on the bigger picture, but I’m not sure form can just be turned on and off like a tap. They had massive momentum earlier in the year but have been dreadful for the past month. Time will tell if Jimmy has played his hand correctly.

It’s not often that people will feel sorry for a multinational financial company, but poor Allianz must really be questioning their sponsorship of the event if some teams are trying to avoid winning the competition. Are they getting bang for their buck if nobody really wants to win it?

Mayo should want to win it, though. Getting to a league final will cap an astonishing resurgence after a miserable start. Another win next weekend will be quite the fillip for a team that was much-maligned earlier in the year. Let’s keep the good vibes going.