Crack at Kingdom is something to be relished

Nothing with Mayo is ever simple and straightforward. It is just so Mayo to be in the relegation places with eight minutes left, only to end up in a league final at full-time. And, yet, despite our heart palpitations in the final quarter, getting to a league final is a serious achievement for Kevin McStay and his men. If McStay was offered that after the Galway match or at half-time in Armagh, he would have bitten your hand off.

With a favourable championship draw and with some space to breathe between league and championship, playing another high quality match in the next few weeks will do Mayo the world of good. Confidence is high, players are finding form and a run-out against a Kerry team who we have a good record against is something to be relished.

As another relegation-threatened team, Kerry will also be delighted to be back in a league final. They will coast Munster so an extra tough game in March will be a welcome challenge. Jack O’Connor is a fan of a league and championship double having achieved it four times. He will look to complete the first-leg of the ‘Jack-Slam’ next weekend. McStay will be going for his own double after 2023’s NFL victory.

Vince Lombardi, the great American Football coach, once said that “Confidence is contagious but so is panic.” While I doubt Jimmy McGuinness or Padraic Joyce will be panicking too much, it’s hard to escape the feeling that they have just flittered away all the positive vibes that surrounded their teams in the earlier rounds of the campaign. After Round 3, both sides were sitting pretty atop Division 1. Since then, it has been messy, underwhelming stuff.

Many said that Donegal were doing their utmost to avoid the league final in recent weeks but for a serial winner like Jimmy McGuinness, I find that hard to believe. They won the Division 2 final last season and used that bounce to romp home with the Ulster Championship. They are playing Derry who are at a low ebb having not won a game for a year. Surely a buoyant, league-winning Donegal would have had no trouble in despatching of a demoralised Derry in Ballybofey?

Doubt must also be creeping in to the Galway ranks after a few bad weeks. What looked like an impregnable defence earlier in the year has shipped some massive scores of late. If I were the Mayo players, I would be saying “bring it on” at the prospect of a Mayo-Galway Connacht Final on May 4.

Feel free to remind me of this article if either Donegal or Galway lift Sam in late July, but the past few weeks have made me question their relative merits. McGuinness and Joyce undoubtedly know far more about football management than I do, but in a shortened season, momentum and morale could be crucial. It will be interesting to see whether their approach of playing the long game pays off.

To be fair, Donegal were not awful against Mayo on Sunday, especially in the second-half. They looked semi-interested after half-time and opened Mayo up for quite a few goal chances. Mayo got lucky that Donegal lined out without five of their key men but Daire O’Baoill looks a fine player and the returning Michael Langan also showed well and will be a massive boost to their championship chances.

The penalty miss and shot that crashed off the crossbar with a minute left were huge let offs but on the whole I felt Mayo shaded it and were deserving winners. Mayo did show signs of fatigue late on but to go in at half-time four points ahead having played against a very strong wind was impressive stuff.

Jack Carney was phenomenal in that first-half. He had the Midas touch as everything he did turned to gold. The last time I saw him play so well was in the county junior semi-final in Islandeady against Shrule-Glencorrib back in 2020. He’s a good player and if he and Mattie Ruane can retain this form, they will be a formidable pairing.

Colm Reape came up trumps for Mayo again when it mattered most. Although a tame effort, that late penalty stop saved Mayo’s blushes. He was Man-of-the-Match in the Division 1 final against Galway two years ago and while we want him to have another solid display, we’d prefer if he didn’t need to be so spectacular or busy! Post-David Clarke and Rob Hennelly, he really has made that No.1 jersey his own though and is calmness and consistency personified.

Although he doesn’t do loads else during the game, Frank Irwin has the happy knack of getting on the end of moves and he is a good finisher. He has a nice streak going and, to be honest, I couldn’t care less if he isn’t contributing too much else in the game if he keeps notching up two or three scores a match. Mayo have enough workers and grafters around the pitch, finishers up top are what we require.

Ruane, Jordan Flynn and Ryan O’Donoghue kicked some monster scores in the second-half as the game started to slip away from us a little bit and that trio have really been leading from the front during Mayo’s recent resurgence. For a guy who does not have the longest legs, ROD has a massive belt of the ball. He kicked another two-pointer and if Shane Walsh was the go-to man for two-pointers earlier in the league, O’Donoghue has taken over that mantle in the last few rounds. Although unsuccessful, he took on a free from about 60 or 65 metres out midway through the second-half and only the fingertips of a fully outstretched 6ft 2” Hugh McFadden stopped it dropping over for another two. He has the skill and the cojones to have a crack at them and more power to him.

For all the incredible drama between 4 and 6pm on Sunday evening, as the Division 1 live table seemed to change by the minute, it’s a pity that it wasn’t the final day of the league. It was exciting but imagine the entertainment if Galway, Dublin, Mayo, and Donegal were all vying for top spot at the final whistle, with the top-placed team taking home the league crown. The spectre of relegation kept things very interesting but the fact that Donegal or Dublin or Galway were not too pushed about reaching the final somewhat tarnished the last round.

Still, the two teams who would probably have been most glad to reach the final have somehow ended up there, which bodes well for a good, committed decider. Sure, as table-toppers, it would have been nice to lift a cup in Castlebar last Sunday, but we’ll just have to make sure we do the business at HQ next weekend. That will cap off a very good league for Mayo.

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One more thing … 

Mayo topped the table with a negative score difference (-1), while Tyrone were relegated with a positive one (+7). If any stat summed up the madness of this season’s Division 1, it’s that.