Mayo cannot win even when they do win

Sometimes there’s just no pleasing people. In the build up to the Cavan game any football person I spoke to was concerned that Mayo would find it tough against a doughty Breffni County outfit. Maybe that negativity was just a post-Connacht Final hangover or maybe it speaks more to the general apathy towards the team right now. In the aftermath of the Cavan cakewalk most people who attended the match were still not happy in spite of Mayo’s cruise to victory. This Mayo team cannot win at the minute.

Many fans were unsatisfied as they were not treated to an exciting football fest on a beautiful day in MacHale Park. That was not Mayo’s fault. Cavan did not come to play football and sat back all day with zero intensity or intent to attack. It had a glorified challenge match feel and Mayo did what they had to do and did it well. Kicking 20 scores (18 from play) from a range of distances and angles against a packed defence deserves credit.

It was a professional dispatchment of a lower level team. Take the win, move on to the next round. It was a similar story against Roscommon in the Connacht Semi-Final a month ago. Everyone thought it would be a tough day out and that Mayo would do well to escape from the Hyde unscathed. Mayo won pulling up but, again, the victory did not get anyone’s juices flowing. Dublin and Kerry frequently record uninspiring, routine victories against smaller fry and just move on without a fuss.

One gets the feeling that no matter what happens up to late June/early July, Mayo’s season will be judged on whether they can produce a big performance and result against one of the top guns in a Croke Park quarter-final or semi-final. All the rest of it is filler in this convoluted All-Ireland Series.

Beating Cavan practically already ensures progress to the next round. Having three teams qualify from each group is madness and has eliminated all jeopardy and excitement. It almost feels like teams are just fulfilling fixtures at this stage of the season rather than going all out to stay alive in Championship. Saturday’s match versus Roscommon will probably decide which teams progress in second and third place from Group 2.

While there is no risk in being eliminated, Mayo will still want to get a result to ensure at least a second-placed finish and a home Preliminary Quarter-Final match. Having a home match at that stage would be most welcome given Mayo’s recent improvement in results in Castlebar. A victory in that match would see Mayo play a number one seed maybe six days later in Croke Park. Not ideal, especially if weary legs had to try and lift it for a clash against a resurgent and flying fit Donegal. Of course, winning the group would solve all those issues but with Dublin in ominous form with their huge squad, that will be easier said than done.

Anyway, that’s all out before us in the weeks ahead. All Mayo can do is take care of business against Roscommon on Saturday. On their previous two meetings this year, Mayo dealt with the Rossies with relative ease. That worries me slightly as it’s difficult to beat the same team three times in the same year, especially when they are your rivals. After two awful displays against us this year, you’d have to think that there will be a kick in Roscommon. They matched up pretty well for long periods against Dublin, keeping it tight and having an incredible shooting efficiency, but Dublin’s superior bench created daylight at the end.

From a long way out, you’d have to feel that Roscommon will have targeted this Mayo game as a chance to right a few wrongs and save some face after their abject displays already this year. I’d be more confident ahead of the weekend’s match if Paddy Durcan was available. His cruciate injury is a crushing blow for himself and the team. I have often said that while Ryan O’Donoghue is Mayo’s most important player, Durcan is Mayo’s best. He’s the one that is in the top 10 or 20 players in Ireland. He’d start for Mayo in any era and the likes of Dublin and Kerry would love to have him. He’s also the team’s leader and a guy you could always hang your hat on when the chips were down. With a lot of transition in recent years, his consistently top level performances helped ensure that Mayo were always competitive. And he’s some clutch player, always coming up with the big scores at the key moments. That sort of totemic presence and big-game player will be sorely missed as things tighten up in the knockout phase next month.

I believe Ryan O’Donoghue is Mayo’s most important player because he is the one player Mayo cannot do without. Where would the scores come from if ROD was missing? While Paddy’s loss is a monumental one, I feel it is still easier to replace a wing-back than a scoring forward, particularly in Mayo where we’ve always been stacked with attacking and raiding half-backs.

The time has now come for Eoghan McLaughlin to step forward and deliver consistently on his enormous promise and potential. He has shown glimpses of brilliance over the last few years without ever achieving total reliability. Durcan’s injury presents a massive opportunity for him now to nail down a place. If he can match his physical gifts with a calmness, assuredness and maturity that Durcan always possessed then he can be a vital cog for Mayo before the summer is out.

While O’Donoghue was still scorer-in-chief versus Cavan it was heartening to see the scores shared a round a bit more evenly. Legendary commentator Clive Tyldesley had a famous line when commentating on Man United’s treble victory 25 years ago this weekend in Barcelona. When one down and entering stoppage time against Bayern Munich, Tyldesley uttered the immortal words “Can Man United score? They always score?”. The rest is history but I feel the same when watching Cillian O’Connor play. He always scores. He’s just a natural born finisher who even on one leg would find a way to get the ball between the posts. When entering the fold against Galway with 15 minutes left I said to the person I was watching the game with “I bet you a fiver O’Connor will score from play”. And, of course, he duly obliged. Easiest €5 I’ve ever made. He can’t move as well or as fast as he once did but he’s looking fit right now and his brain is always alive for scoring opportunities. His presence eases the burden on O’Donoghue.

I like Darren McHale as a forward too. I played with him a bit in 2016 and was taken by his directness and running power. He is different to the other wing-forwards we have, those that are tall, rangy, midfielders-cum-half-forwards, and gives the team penetration. His selection, along with O’Connor’s, added a freshness and different dimension to Mayo’s attack. Fergal Boland must feel hard done by to find himself out of favour after a few below-par performances given his stellar showings earlier in the year. Surely management can find room for three natural forwards like O’Connor, McHale and Boland and play midfielders at midfield.

Mayo’s record against Roscommon this year at all grades has been impressive. Even the Under-20s, who had a disappointing campaign, got a decent draw in the Hyde in Round 1 of their campaign. The Minors had another great win there last Friday.

While the mood music around the Senior team is not too upbeat at present, there seems to be a nice buzz building about this Minor side. They’re skilful and hungry and look very well drilled so it’ll be exciting to see how their season unfolds. Amidst all the pessimism about Mayo’s recent underage performances, it’s easy to forget that Mayo have won three Connacht Minor titles in a row. A fair achievement that bodes well for the future.

It’s not all doom and gloom in Mayo football land. Let’s keep the green and red flag flying and get another win in Roscommon on Saturday.

One more thing … In the 11 years after their League title in 1990, Liverpool won two FA Cups, two League Cups and a UEFA Cup. In the 11 years since their last Premier League title in 2013, Manchester United have won two FA Cups, two League Cups and a Europa League (the new UEFA Cup). That corker of a stat is from Irish journalist Kieran Cunningham and it shows how football and sport are cyclical. Fans should enjoy it when their team is on top and not get too down when times are tough. The good times (and bad times) will come around again.