Larkin welcomes ruthless streak in front of goal

Goals are what joint-managers Ray Larkin and Brian Finn wanted and that’s exactly what they got as Mayo punched their way through the Monaghan defence in the second-half to record a facile win in Castleblayney last Sunday.

It was an area in which they had struggled for long periods the previous week in their win over Armagh but Adrian Phillips, who raised Mayo’s sole green flag against the Orchard County, bagged three of them at the weekend, with his first a creative effort when his back was turned to goal before half-time.

Once Eoin Delaney got Mayo’s second two minutes into the second-half, Mayo went for broke as Daniel Huane netted Mayo’s third while Phillips completed his hat-trick with a quick brace – and it could have been more were it not for the efforts of Monaghan shot-stopper Hugh Byrne.

“We’re happy enough. We came out and got the first score of the second-half and we got three goals in the space of seven or eight minutes. It kind of ended the game for the last ten minutes,” said Ray Larkin afterwards.

“We need to score more goals and I said if you get a chance, to go for it. No one is going to give out to you if the goalkeeper makes a good save, just make the opportunity for yourself.

“We needed more aggression, more off-the-shoulder running. In fairness, Danny (Huane), (Liam) Lavin, Joe (Burke), they were coming off the shoulder and attacking at pace. Worst case scenario, you’d get hit and it’d be a free. We always say you’ll only get a few chances and you have to take them.

“Philly just popped the ball over his head, it was a bit like volleyball. We’ll take them all, in fairness. Their goalie pulled off a few saves at the end.” 

The goals did not look likely for much for the first-half however, mainly as a result of Monaghan’s defensive approach, with Mayo guilty of hitting some poor wides.

“We were shooting from long distance. Their wing-back line sat back and we were popping points from halfway which wasn’t really working. The message at half-time was to carry the ball in as far as we can and get into the scoring zone in the second-half and it worked.

“We came up [Saturday] night, we had a job to do, focused, and two points in the bag again.” 

The hurlers now have this coming weekend off but they will be back training this evening (Tuesday) as preparations begin for their encounter against Cavan in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park on Sunday week.

The Breffni men bounced back from a tough four-point defeat against Sligo to beat Louth last Saturday, 3-19 to 1-19. With two wins from two, a victory for Mayo will put them in pole position for a spot in the Division 3A final at the end of March.

“We have the momentum and we need to keep going,” concluded Larkin.