Bravery rewarded as Heaney places emphasis on attack

The margin of victory was justified given Mayo’s overall dominance of this All-Ireland minor quarter-final but the most satisfying thing about Saturday’s game was the consistency of performance. Mayo produced their best 60 minutes to date as they ruthlessly dispatched Cork to book a spot in the semi-final against Armagh, who also had a convincing win over Leinster champions Longford.

“I'm very happy with the performance, very happy with the win. I suppose in previous games I've been saying that we've hit good patches for a few minutes here and there and then we just hit a low and we let all the teams come back on us. But this is the first time I think we've had a sustained bit of dominance,” said Mayo joint-manager David Heaney afterwards.

“It definitely helped that we got a goal in the first minute because Cork shipped a heavy defeat in the Munster final.

“We knew they would probably come out defensive and we knew we might take a while to get through that but once we got the goal I think we tacked on a point or two fairly quickly.

“It kind of forced Cork into something they didn't want to do so it suited our game then, it kind of opened up a little bit after that. We’re generally delighted with the performance and the way the lads played.” 

Heaney added: “Where we have struggled is generally when teams have sat back, especially in the first-half against Roscommon. But even the first-half against Leitrim, even against Sligo, we were just too slow moving the ball. We played to the opposition's pace and it suited them. It didn't suit us.

“So we've worked very hard in the last two or three weeks on moving quicker, getting more runners off-the-shoulder and making gains through their half-back line. It worked today and it might not work another day but it's something we knew we had to work on and we have worked on and it turned out well for us today. It's a delight that we brought that from the training field.” 

Mayo’s second goal before half-time killed off any aspirations of a Cork comeback, although David Heaney felt that his team should have led by even more than the 2-8 to 0-3 half-time scoreline given the strong wind blowing across Cusack Park.

“It was a great time (to get the second goal). I felt we needed to score more, I think we were 1-7 up at that stage and it was a fairly strong wind. I thought we deserved to be up more and it was just that the lads kept at it, kept at it, kept at it. I suppose it was a double whammy; before that Cork got their goalie black carded and we got the penalty. It's great to get a score before half time, any sort of score, absolutely.” 

Kobe McDonald and Oisin Deane will get the headlines but in defence, Tom Hession, Mark Noonan, Mark Sheerin and David Hurley excelled and Heaney was delighted with their performances.

“They were brilliant but they're such good footballers. The two Marks or Hesh, they could play anywhere in the field. I don't know if Hesh has ever played full-back before this year with the Mayo minors. We want him on the ball, we want them lads on the ball.

“We want to be an attacking team and attack as much as we can and to get the right players on the ball in the right places and that's what we've been trying to do, preach and constantly do that. Just encourage them to try things out, be brave, be offensive and don't be afraid to take a chance.” 

Up next will be a much stiffer test against the Orchard County and David Heaney expects a tough encounter.

“I saw the Ulster final against Derry and they're very defensively sound, very well set up. They kind of play a bit like us to be honest. They're probably a bit more defensive but they break hard and they send the midfielder into full-forward on occasion as well. We'll just have to watch the video. They look to be very strong defensively.”