Little time to reflect fondly on a job well done

That was far more comfortable than anticipated. It wasn’t spectacular but Mayo deserve great credit for their professional and disciplined display. This game was always a potential banana-skin so we would certainly have taken that result before throw-in.

Ryan O’Donoghue was once again immense. Analysing his Mayo performances reminds of the time we once analysed Lee Keegan’s displays – there weren’t/aren’t enough superlatives! How many Man-of-the-Match gongs has he won in recent seasons? He’ll soon need planning permission for a new trophy room. He was marking a fine player in St Brigid’s captain Brian Stack but he put him under massive pressure all afternoon and made him look ordinary. Not only can he turn on a sixpence but ROD’s dramatic, explosive darts in possession make him almost impossible to tackle. Most of the frees he kicks are self-won so he deserves the high numbers he always gets after his name on match reports.

Another really pleasing aspect of this match though was that Mayo’s scores were shared around nicely. Of course, O’Donoghue got the lion’s share but Fergal Boland, Tommy Conroy, Conor Loftus and Aidan O’Shea all contributed handsomely too. That has to be the way going forward because as good as ROD is, teams will design their whole defensive strategy to shut him down so it is imperative that others chip in.

O’Shea’s goal was beautifully executed. The dummy before shooting and the finish were sublime and the Breaffy man put in a great shift. He was causing big problems in the full-forward line for the first 15 minutes when Mayo were moving well. He seemed to drift out as the match evolved and did most of his good work around midfield and the half-forward line early in the second-half. Whether to play him inside or outside is one of the great debates of our times. In sporting discourse, it would rival Messi versus Ronaldo in terms of divisiveness.

I flip-flop between where I think he best serves the team. I was always in the “play him around the middle” camp but his goal at the weekend reminded me of one of his hat-trick goals into the same net against Sligo in the 2015 Connacht Final or the major he bagged against Donegal in Croke Park in the quarter-final later that year. You probably wouldn’t see him scoring those types of goals if he is stationed around midfield but we need him to repeat the dose more often if inside so as to help lighten ROD’s load.

Tommy Conroy also kicked some lovely scores. I don’t know if it was by design or if it just happened in the course of proceedings but he seemed to be picking more ball up deeper than usual. There was one ball he collected from Colm Reape at right corner-back after Roscommon dropped a shot short. He also turned over a few balls on the edge of Mayo’s D. We don’t want him back defending the whole time but it’s probably no harm to see him gather some ball out the field. There’s more space out there and he can run directly at goals rather than getting the ball with his back to goal and a defender stuck up his backside.

I often find myself that when you’re in a funk at corner-forward, the best thing you can do is go roaming to open pastures where it’s easier to get your hands on the ball and build up your confidence again. You could see the belief begin to come back in the second-half as he sailed past a few defenders on the right wing and stroked over some lovely scores.

All this talk of best positions is probably a bit redundant nowadays anyway. God knows, Ryan O’Donoghue doesn’t just stick to the inside line. He can be seen foraging and in combat all over the park and Mayo are all the better for it. Players are super fit and adaptable nowadays and end up covering most blades of grass in today’s highly tactical slugfests. At the end of the day, wherever you play, make sure you play well and people won’t be carping too much about your position.

Conor Loftus’s productive cameo was also a very welcome and unexpected bonus for those of us who had almost forgotten about him as a forward option after last season’s ball-playing centre-back experiment. I can’t remember him getting any game time in this season’s league, probably due to injury, but he’s a good finisher when fit and close to goal. He could become a good attacking option as the year progresses.

Mayo’s general shape and defensive compactness was also another positive aspect of the weekend’s game. Roscommon have some dangerous forwards but they didn’t create too much by way of goal chances. Diarmuid Murtagh and Daire Cregg are accurate and had their moments but Kevin McStay will be happy with how Enda and Donie Smith and Ben O’Carroll were marshalled. Roscommon did miss a lot but I think Mayo deserve credit for that as most of their shots were forced due to our pressure and crowding of the scoring zones.

Indeed, Roscommon’s general play was quite symptomatic of their form this season. They showed some good flashes late in the first-half but they fizzled out badly as the game progressed. You just get the feeling that they’re not going that well or that it’s not a bouncing camp. They have a good break now to gather themselves but it’ll take a big turnaround to arrest the slide and I’d be surprised if they were to feature too prominently in the All-Ireland series.

Their onfield woes were in stark contrast to the magnificence of their home ground on Sunday. The weather helped but I’ve never seen the Hyde looking so well. The surface and new stand were looking resplendent in the glorious April sun. The venue has come a long way. I remember playing a Connacht Final there on a biblically wet July day in 2011 when there were puddles in the boggy corners, the grass almost ankle-length and every poor spectator was soaked to the skin. Credit must go to all involved in revamping the ground. It’s a great place to play and watch football now.

We’re all a bit miffed with the Provincial Championship structure and GAA calendar at present but I think we need to park that for the moment and acknowledge that there were some cracking spectacles around the country at the weekend. There were no real fireworks in the Mayo game but events in Sligo, Derry, Killarney and Cavan definitely got the pulses racing and fans excited.

There is just so much GAA on right now and it is all happening so fast. It’s hard to keep up!

Back in Mayoland, Kevin McStay will be worried by Paddy Durcan’s injury-forced withdrawal and his team’s struggles on breaking ball on long kickouts but he can sit back and reflect fondly on a job well done. Albeit not for too long as it’ll be Galway before we know it. Oh my old foe, we meet on the battlefield once again.

One more thing … 

League champions Derry (D1), Westmeath (D3), Laois (D4) and Clare (hurling) all lost their first round Championship matches. Eaten bread is soon forgotten.