Mayo need only take a leaf from Galway hurlers

Croke Park is a special place and, more than most, it’s a place where the line between success and failure can be incredibly thin. Mayo know that more than anyone else.

Ahead of this weekend, however, with the opportunity that’s staring a young group of men in the face, Andy Moran’s side need to take a look at a similarly youthful Galway hurling squad and rob a leaf from their book.

Up against the Cork hurling juggernaut last weekend, the men from the west started like a house on fire and, in that pivotal third quarter after half-time, went in for the kill. They are now preparing for an All-Ireland final.

There are some unmistakable similarities between the two teams.

Galway have a legendary figure from within the county back in charge in Micheál Donoghue. They’ve had to endure some difficult days over the last decade as one successful team broke up and another emerged. But they’ve injected their squad with young players brimming with enthusiasm and, merged together with the older cohort with experience of big days, they’ve got almost the perfect blend.

Much like the Mayo footballers this year, Galway have shown flashes of brilliance but they’ve also sprinkled in some really average stuff. Take their Leinster campaign: yes, it finished with that hammering of Dublin in the Leinster final, but they also threw away victory against the Dubs in Salthill in the round robin phase, while they fell well behind Kildare and Wexford before eventually coming back.

On Saturday, though, they looked like a team born to play in Croke Park. In their last two appearance at headquarters, they’ve scored a staggering 6-55.

The intensity and work-rate was bookended by real quality, with Jason Rabbitte at full-forward epitomising the youthful optimism that permeates a Galway squad that also draws on the experience of the Mannions, Cathal and Padraic, and the ageless Daithi Burke.

What was especially impressive about Galway was their tigerishness from the very off.

They didn’t show any respect for a Cork side widely tipped to progress to a third successive decider and brought a huge intensity to their tackling, which appeared to stun a Cork team that worked its way into the game off the back of some sparkling attacking play led by Brian Hayes.

Galway may have coughed up an early lead, but their run of scores heading in at half-time was crucial and their willingness to drive at Cork at every opportunity helped in so far as two of Cork’s starting defenders were on yellow cards before the break. That gave the likes of Rabbitte a tad more freedom to work in.

Each and every time a score went over in that third quarter, you could feel the atmosphere building amongst the Galway supporters. The fist pumps from Tom Monaghan and Ronan Glennon along the Cusack Stand side reflected the attitude of the men from the west: they were there to win and fully believed they could pull it off.

Of course, for all of Galway’s brilliance, the Cork post-mortem will be brutal. For a second-half collapse of this nature to happen again on the big stage will require a major introspection in the coming months that will not be pretty. Last year’s All-Ireland final was worse, but this had a similar feel. After half-time, Galway outscored Cork by 1-14 to five points.

That was an example of a coming team taking a huge opportunity – and Mayo have the exact same chance this weekend.

In being somewhat removed from the chatter down west, it has been striking from a neutral viewpoint to note the scale of confidence surrounding Louth coming into this weekend. Yes, they are on a great run, but they have an inexperience of big days such as this when compared to Mayo, especially the veterans on Andy Moran’s panel.

There’s a swagger building around Mayo and rightly so. Darragh Beirne and Kobe McDonald epitomise that; they’re capable of performing on the big stage and showed it against Cork. Now is not the time for those players to go into their shell – in fact, that is the stage they’ve been waiting for to showcase their talent. Keep fist pumping, keep running, keep driving forward. That’s how to take your opportunity, like the Galway hurlers.

There are a couple of things Mayo will need to prepare for.

Their kickout needs to be robust in the face of what will be an aggressive press from Louth, because the Wee County will back themselves to break even on that given their size and strength around the middle.

Sam Mulroy will require a dedicated marker, as will Ciaran Byrne when he is inevitably sprung from the bench in the latter stages. Craig Lennon will probably require someone to tag his runs from deep – perhaps a Jordan Flynn type figure is the player to do just that.

Mayo’s pressure on the ball against Cork was superb all over the park. Maintaining that again the next day will be vital because if it’s even a percent off where it needs to be, with the man-to-man defending Mayo like to employ as a system, it could be fatal.

This has been a championship full of talking points from pillar to post, but Mayo find themselves in a lovely position heading into this weekend.

Having had such a remarkable rise in such a short space of time, Louth are the romantic story of the summer (along with Westmeath) and most neutrals will be hoping it is them that takes its place on the biggest day of them all at the end of the month.

Mayo need not worry about that. They need to draw on the positivity they've generated in recent weeks, and the muscle memory of the likes of Aidan O'Shea, Ryan O'Donoghue, Stephen Coen and Paddy Durcan. That could be vital over the next seven days.

In a summer where the unexpected has happened more often than not, this is an enormous opportunity.

Mayo need to grab it with both hands.