Higgins happy with progress but crunch tie to come

Mayo under-20 manager Keith Higgins admitted it would be ‘massive’ for his side to defeat Galway and advance straight to a Connacht U20 championship final.

An impressive victory over Leitrim means the young footballers of Mayo and Galway, the latter having had a narrow win over Sligo last week, will meet this Wednesday evening in MacHale Park in what is effectively a semi-final in of itself.

A loss for Mayo to Galway would not be fatal, but it would mean another semi-final, against Roscommon in all likelihood, in eight days’ time. Should they win that and reach the Connacht final, it would mean five consecutive weeks that Mayo are out.

“You don't want to looking too far down the line or pre-empting things but if you were to get a win next Wednesday, it's giving you that break of a week into a Connacht final whereas otherwise if you got to a semi-final you're going five weeks in a row. Even four weeks in a row is tough going,” said Higgins.

“You do get momentum out of playing games of that type, but at the same time, it is tiring on the body.

“I’m sure Galway will be eyeing it up the exact same way we will be. You could nearly classify it as another semifinal. So look, there's a big carrot there. It should be a great occasion.” 

Higgins was happy with the performance of Mayo against Leitrim, singling out James Lavelle in defence and Tom Lydon in attack in particular for their displays.

“James played really well on Paul Honeyman, we know what a quality player he is. But again, I suppose it's the support that he gets around that then as well, guys cutting back, putting pressure on the ball, kind of high up a bit at times but again probably conditions play into that, you know.

“I think probably Tom sometimes goes under the radar a bit when you've Kobe and Darragh in the forward line with you, but we've seen Tom last year. We know how good he is. He just needs that bit of a sniff.” 

There was also impact off the bench through Conor Jordan and Nathan Roddy, while Knockmore’s Darragh Staunton had added steel to the midfield having been given his first U20 start.

“We’re lucky we have that kind of firepower there that guys can step up on different days. We've seen Nathan Roddy come on there and show glimpses, kicks a great score. Conor Jordan and Darragh Staunton, he wasn't even in the squad last week, comes in and puts in a great display around the middle. That's the beauty of having a panel, and it gives you loads of options.” 

Higgins added: “I think every day you're probably reviewing what happened the previous day and looking at different areas but for me it was just the consistency. I think we got that.

“Sligo, we were very patchy, I think. First-half against Roscommon, very patchy but then the second-half we're a bit more consistent and a bit further on today. It's just getting that consistency. We know the quality of the players that are there and it's just getting the consistency with them the whole time.” 

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Connacht U20 Championship – Round 5 

Wednesday, April 15 

7pm in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park

Mayo v Galway