Hurlers in hunt for league and championship double
With 4-29 from play during Mayo's march to the Division 3 league title, Liam Lavin (left) will hope to carry that rich vein of scoring form through to the Nicky Rackard Cup which gets underway next Saturday. Picture: David Farrell Photography
American writer Mark Twain famously popularised the line ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics'. Going by the league campaign of the Mayo hurling team, there is no spinning of the stats and numbers that can counteract a golden truth: Mayo are the overwhelming favourites for the Nicky Rackard Cup.
Ray Larkin’s side were the highest scorers in the Division 3 league phase with a total of 152 points (13-113) from their six group games, with another fourteen points in the final seeing them finish off with 168, averaging 24 points per game. Only on three occasions did Mayo not reach that tally: against Sligo (1-12), which was much a delayed first game on February 9 as their original opener against Cavan was called off due to Storm Eowyn while they had a bye in Round 2, their loss to London in Bekan and in the league final against the same opposition, where inclement weather hampered shooting on the day.
Mayo also boast the two top scorers from open play in the league. Liam Lavin was top with 4-29, Shane Boland scored 2-21 and Cormac Phillips was joint fourth with 4-10. (Boland scored 2-42 overall with frees taken into account, finishing joint second in the overall standings).
Since their dogged win over Sligo in Enniscrone, Mayo’s journey to the Division 3 title was very impressive. There was only one bump along the way – that loss to the Exiles – but their response was comprehensive, with wins over Roscommon, Armagh and, in their final game of the regular season, Wicklow, which secured promotion to Division 2 and another crack at London in the league final.
A different type of approach was required for that decider in Hawkfield near Newbridge in Co Kildare which was affected by the poor weather. Mayo’s attack has been much heralded but their defensive display that day was enormous. Goalkeeper Bobby Douglas pulled off some big saves when London were on top in the first-half, Oisin Greally was excellent at full-back while the entire half-back line of Eoghan Collins, Kieran McDermott and captain David Kenny were outstanding on the day.
When you consider Mayo’s league success, which included beating two teams (London and Wicklow) who are playing a championship tier above them in the Christy Ring Cup this year, the Green and Red and the undisputed favourites to go one better this time around after defeat to Donegal in last year’s Nicky Rackard Cup final in Croke Park.
Three of the teams that Mayo faced in the league, Sligo, Armagh and Roscommon, will be opponents in the championship, with the latter their first opponents next weekend. The Rossies were within two points of Mayo at half-time but a tour-de-force in the second-half saw the Saffron and Blue blown away all of 18 points, and they would finish as the definition of mid-table: fourth of seven teams with three wins and three defeats.
When these two met last year in Hyde Park, Roscommon almost caught Mayo out as the visitors had to hold on for a draw. Now in Castlebar on this occasion, it would be hard to see anything again other than a Mayo victory.
The stats don’t lie.
Round 2: Armagh v Mayo (Saturday April 19, 2pm in BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, Armagh).
Round 3: Mayo v Louth (April 26/27).
Round 4: Mayo v Sligo (May 10/11).
Round 5: Fermanagh v Mayo (May 17/18).
Final: May 31/June 1.
