Home comforts to be Ray of light in Mayo league opener
Mayo senior hurling manager Ray Larkin. Picture: Sportsfile
There are new additions to the Mayo senior hurling squad for 2025 and manager Ray Larkin has no qualms of throwing them in thick of the action for their first National League game this Saturday against Cavan.
Ballyhaunis quartet Keith McDermott, Mark Phillips, Eoin Ryan (an U20 panelist last year) and Jason Coyne, and Ballina Stephenites duo Luke Hurley and Kevin Duffy are among the players to have selected for Mayo this year while Larkin has used his Galway connections to bring in Simon Thomas from Castlegar and Ryan Duffy from Ballygar.
While there has been no Connacht Hurling League this year following the decision by Congress to scrap all pre-season competitions, Mayo have had three challenge games in recent weeks against NUIG, Longford and Westmeath. Larkin has been impressed with what he has seen from the newcomers and it would come as no surprise to see a number of them in contention for starting spots.
“I suppose with the three games we had, they've all got an hour and a bit of hurling to them,” Larking told the Western People. “These lads, they’re honest, they'll be well used to playing big games. Some would have played with Mayo before. The two lads from Galway, they'll be used to a high standard hurling as well.
“If we can, we'll be throwing the straight in. If they're good enough to start, they'll be starting. If they put their hand up for the position, we'll be going strong against Cavan and putting our best foot forward.” In recent years, there has been a juggling act with the Tooreen contingent, also managed by Larkin. As a result of their deep runs into All-Ireland semi-finals and finals, they would link up with the hurlers later in the league. But with the Blue Devils’ journey ended in the Connacht final by eventual All-Ireland intermediate finalist Tynagh Abbey-Duniry, the Tooreen players have been fully in with Mayo for pre-season.
The National Hurling League has undergone a restructure, with Division 3A and 3B merged into one single division. Mayo won the Division 3A title last year, defeating Sligo in the final before going to contest the Nicky Rackard Cup Final later in the year, losing to Donegal.
Larkin said 2024 was a ‘great year’ and while he is anticipating a tough campaign, there is no reason why the Green and Red cannot make the latter stages again, starting by beating Cavan in the league opener.
“It was a great year. After being relegated the year before and not doing great in the league, our aim at the start of the year was to win the league. We had a good run, we had some big scores. In the championship then, we played Donegal and they beat us up (in Letterkenny). We thought we'd learn a good bit from it and I suppose, in the final we just ran out of steam at the end. Donegal brought on three subs at halftime, which meant an awful lot to their team. We’d have taken that at the start of the year, getting to an All-Ireland final and winning the league.
“You have London there now this year and Wicklow will be very, very strong. They'll be two really good teams in the league this year. If we could get to a final, it'll be massive or a semi-final, that'd be great.
“We've played (Cavan) last year (winning 2-17 to 1-13). I suppose every year is different compared to last year. We're just trying to get a bit of homework done on them now before we play them. They'll be strong and the first game is always the hardest game. If we can get over that first game against Cavan, then we've a week off and then we've Sligo away and then London at home.”
