Mark Ronaldson: Staying in the moment will be Mayo’s greatest asset

Mayo players are not chasing Sam Maguire next Sunday. They’re chasing a performance. If Mayo can reach the performance levels of the Louth semi-final, then they will give Kerry a right rattle.

To get back to those levels, Mayo’s mindset and energy will be as important as any technical, tactical or physical aspects. To that end, does anyone have Caroline Currid’s number? Would she be interested in some pro-bono work for the week?

My tongue is firmly in my cheek, but her record cannot be questioned. Her CV is absolutely phenomenal. She most certainly has the Midas touch wherever she goes. Be that with Tyrone in ’08, the Tipperary hurlers in ’10, Dublin footballers in ’11 or Limerick hurlers in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2026, she knows how to get the job done. It is no coincidence that in years when she has taken a sabbatical from the Limerick setup, they do not win All-Irelands.

I was sitting beside Cillian O’Connor at a wedding in recent years and I had heard that he had been doing some work with Currid. I asked him straight up, “What’s her secret?” His answer was annoyingly, but reassuringly, simple.

“She breaks it right down to basics. She challenges you to make improvements in your life so that you sleep better, eat better, feel better and therefore perform better on the pitch.” I sometimes think performance coaches, sports psychologists and strength and conditioning gurus get too much credit when a team wins, as it is the players who have to go out on the grass and do the business, not the off-field experts. It is always striking, though, how gushing Limerick players are about Currid, speaking in almost reverential terms about her impact. Try telling them that performance psychologists do not have a major influence.

Luckily for Mayo, they have an excellent sports psychologist working with them this year too. Dr Rachel Sheehan did some work with our club side last season and I found her to be a hugely positive influence on our camp. No doubt she has earned her money building this Mayo side back up after the Roscommon debacle three months ago, but she will really show her value this week.

I know for a fact she will not be mentioning cups, trophies or famines this week. It will be cold, hard talk about controlling the controllables. Mayo players will be urged to focus on what is inside their circle of control.

What is it that you have total control over? What should your focus be on?

Where focus goes, energy flows.

The referee, Martin McNally, doesn’t matter. We have no control over that. The potentially Med-like weather in Dublin next weekend doesn’t matter. We can’t control that either. The media, fans, podcasts and public discourse around the match? Not my concern. Different stripes mown in to the Croke Park pitch? I couldn’t care less. Will Paul Geaney or Tom O’Sullivan return from injury? None of my business.

Mayo players will have zero influence on any of these things, so don’t waste energy thinking about them. “Attention suckers” is what Rachel used to call them.

What is inside the Mayo players’ circle of control? Can they rest well this week? Can they eat properly and optimise their hydration in such sweltering heat? Can they work on freshness, mobility and manage any niggles? Can they complete their homework and video analysis on their direct opponent? Can they bring the right intensity to the short but pivotal field sessions in MacHale Park tonight and on Thursday?

Every sports psychologist I have ever worked with has emphasised the same thing: the importance of being fully present in the moment. Such a skill is never more important than on All-Ireland final day, the biggest day of them all. From 3.30pm onwards, what happened in the past and what will happen in the future simply does not matter. Mayo players shouldn’t be looking back to 1951 or forward to 17:51 that evening. Stay in the moment. Impact what is happening here and now.

There is a great story about how Jonny Wilkinson practised this most important skill of being present. When doing mundane household chores like washing the dishes or hoovering the floor in the build up to big games, he would give that task his complete, undivided attention. By practising this routinely throughout his week, being fully present became second nature when he was taking the biggest kicks of his life on the world stage.

Sheehan is also a big advocate of journaling in the build-up to games and it is no coincidence that you often see Mayo players carrying journals under their arms when arriving at big matches. She encourages players to break their game down into the individual tasks and actions that make up their role. Players write these down, visualise them and revisit them in the days and minutes leading up to the game. When the moment arrives, these tasks become part of the muscle memory and are hardwired into the psyche.

For Jack Livingstone, it could be executing his short kick-outs. Donnacha McHugh will want to force David Clifford onto his weaker side. Sam Callinan or Enda Hession won’t want to give Paudie Clifford a yard. Bob Tuohy will want to compete on every long kick-out. Ryan O’Donoghue will want to run at Kerry’s defence. Darragh Beirne will want to get his shots away.

Each player will have three or four simple, achievable targets that they want to focus on, knowing that if they execute their own role, they are doing their job for the team.

Of course, by praising Caroline Currid to the high heavens, you wouldn’t want to diminish the role of the legendary gaffer, John Kiely, either. The leader sets the tone and creates the platform for players and support staff to do their thing. Mayo have an inspirational head honcho of their own too.

Andy Moran and Colm Boyle were two of the most inspiring teammates I ever played with. They knew what it took to deliver on the big day and always led by example. They were meticulous in their preparation, ensuring every box was ticked so they were ready when it mattered most.

Mayo players and management have a busy week ahead, making sure that bodies and, more importantly, minds are primed for 3.30pm on Sunday.

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O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The answer? Likely beside you on the pitch in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day.

Christy O’Connor of the Irish Examiner had a brilliant stat that of the last 50 All-Ireland hurling finals, only four have not featured brothers. The Mannions, Caseys and Morrisseys graced Croke Park last Sunday and now it will be the turn of the O’Connors and Cliffords in the football.

It is probably unlikely that we will see too much of Cillian and Diarmuid O’Connor, but how to curb David and Paudie Clifford’s influence will be giving Andy Moran plenty of sleepless nights.

Donegal last year and Dublin last Sunday week chose to give Paudie the freedom of Croke Park, to their ultimate detriment. For me, you have to try to get tight to him and stop him getting those easy, uncontested touches.

Possession of the ball is like oxygen for a forward. It doesn’t matter how simple or insignificant the touch may seem. It brings you into the game, gives you a feel for the O’Neills and builds confidence to attempt more adventurous plays the next time you get your hands on possession.

The worst games I have ever played were the ones where I got minimal touches, became frustrated and felt detached from the action.

Mayo have to try to deny Paudie Clifford possession and reduce his touch count from the 70s to below 50. If they can go further and get it down below 25 or 30, that will go a long way towards winning the match.

In the 2017 All-Ireland final, Lee Keegan limited Ciarán Kilkenny to just 20 possessions. What was notable about that was that Kilkenny had been Dublin’s quarterback and playmaker-in-chief all season, amassing 62 possessions in Dublin’s semi-final win over Tyrone.

Mayo no longer have Keegan, but they do have Enda Hession, a man in All-Star form, who I believe could be well capable of rising to that challenge and relishing the battle.

By pursuing and hounding Paudie further out the field, are you robbing Peter to pay Paul? Or, to be more concrete, are you robbing Paudie to pay David?

Will aggressive pressing further out leave Mayo exposed inside? That is the chance you have to take and it is a situation where you have to trust your one-on-one defenders a little more.

Donnacha McHugh is a specialist spoiler, though, and could be the man to mitigate David Clifford’s impact. Restricting him to 1-05 or less, as Davy Byrne did in the semi-final, would be a job well done.

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Whatever happens next weekend, I just hope Andy Moran doesn’t do a Thomas Tuchel, instructing his team to retreat and regress when ahead and with the finish line in sight.

Some call this mental block or fear of winning white line fever, which is wonderfully apt given England’s shirt colours. Andy was one of Mayo’s bravest players, so I think it would be totally antithetical to his footballing philosophy to take a backward step.

If Mayo are leading heading into the second-half, it will be time to kick on and grab the game rather than wait and hold.

Fortune favours the brave.

What has characterised and fuelled this Mayo team, and enthralled its supporters, is the open, attacking, free-spirited, high-pressing nature of their play.

Given Kerry’s attacking riches, containment may seem like the sensible approach, but in my mind this game has to be attacked. Kerry had only four turnovers against Dublin in a fairly middling display, so if you allow them to have the ball unopposed, you could be waiting a long time to get it back.

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A rising tide lifts all ships and I have been struck by the buzz and GAA fervour across the West in recent weeks, on the back of the Mayo footballers’ and Galway hurlers’ outstanding progress.

With our own club championship on the horizon, I went for a few practice kicks with a bag of O’Neills to the local Oranmore pitch on Sunday lunchtime, a couple of hours before the hurling throw-in.

I presumed it would be a ghost town, with everyone in Dublin, but I could not believe the number of young lads and dads pucking about on the field. I was jinking and weaving, kicking points and dreaming that I could still do a job next Sunday if Andy calls. For those young bucks with hurls in hand, Oranmore Community pitch was their Croke Park.

The uplift an All-Ireland final appearance gives a county is immeasurable. There are Mayo and Galway flags flying high all over this neck of the woods. Internationally, Mayo and Galway jerseys are appearing on television at the World Cup in the US, at The Open in Royal Birkdale and among spectators lining the roads at the Tour de France.

Watching Mayo, Norwegian and English soccer fans lock arms and row together in the Norwegian Viking salute in Albufeira was a wonderful reminder of the power of sport to bring people together.

It has been a magical Gaelic football summer thus far. For us Mayo men and women, it could yet become the greatest of them all.

One can dream.