Mayo simply punished a disorganised, uninterested rabble

Heading into Pearse Stadium last Sunday, I’m not sure any of us Mayo supporters really knew what to expect. It was 210 days since Mayo’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Dublin last summer and without any progress in the FBD League, there was no real form guide for us to study. It’s clear though that Mayo must have prepared meticulously for this season’s opener as they delivered a highly impressive performance at the weekend. Kevin McStay couldn’t really have asked for much more from the campaign’s opening day.

While it was only the first round of the league, you always want to beat Galway. As a Mayoman, you’d never ever like to give them the satisfaction of getting one over you. And that’s three big games in-a-row that Mayo have prevailed over our bitterest rivals. Pre-game, there was a little bit of pressure on both sides given the previous night’s results in Division 1. It’s fair to say that neither Dublin or Kerry will get relegated, so the fact that Monaghan and Derry picked up full points in extremely tough away fixtures bodes well for their survival prospects. With that in mind, Mayo delivered. Galway, on the other hand, were abject.

The three certainties in life are death, taxes and a hugely influential breeze affecting a match at Pearse Stadium. Mayo played into that Atlantic gale in the first-half but their attitude and tactics lessened its impact as they sprinted out of the blocks. From the get-go, Mayo were tuned in. Galway didn’t look up for it and struggled to live with Mayo’s intensity and pace. Many wondered if Mayo would target this year’s league having blown too hot too early last season but McStay’s troops really looked up for the fight again and didn’t take a backward step all afternoon.

In terms of the starting lineup, it bore a familiar enough look. Conor Reid was the only real bolter who hadn’t graced this stage before. I thought he had a nice game and played the wing-forward role to perfection. He looks very fit and mobile and worked tirelessly up and down the right wing. He kept it simple and kept the ball moving through the hand adding good continuity to Mayo’s attacking play.

Fergal Boland, of course, was the other newbie although it’s hard to consider him a newcomer at this stage of his career. Still, his reintroduction to the fold was a welcome sight and he justified his recall with an outstanding display. Scoring wing-forwards are worth their weight in gold and he always chips in with two or three each game. It will now be interesting to see if he sticks the pace and becomes an automatic starter come championship time.

Eoghan McLaughlin scored another brilliant goal on the road. He really has an impressive back-catalogue of quality goals and Galway couldn’t get to grips with him at all in the first-half as he took Cein Darcy to the cleaners down the left wing. He is not the most polished player but he has a happy knack of punching holes in the opposition’s defence and he can be a fair attacking weapon for Mayo when utilised correctly.

In that first-half, Mayo kept possession brilliantly and frustrated a poor Galway team who felt under pressure to make stuff happen with the wind at their backs. These were mature, sensible tactics by Mayo and suggested that they are a team that is growing and developing their game smarts. Into the teeth of that wind, Mayo ran hard, carried ball at pace and kept possession until an attacking player attacked the D at an undefendable angle for a shot at goal. Jordan Flynn, Bob Tuohy, Boland and McLaughlin all ran clever lines before kicking beauties in that period.

It’s only a minor thing but I also loved how Mayo killed the clock when Ryan O’Donoghue was black carded. Out of the ten minutes, Mayo played keep ball for about four or five of them and Jack Coyne stayed down holding his head for a prolonged period when on the receiving end of a high tackle. Football purists may not like it but it’s a sign of a team growing and learning. As a broader issue, and taking my Mayo hat off, the GAA do need to come up with some way of preventing teams with fourteen men from wasting so much time when one of their men is in the sin bin. A similar thing happened in the Derry-Kerry game on Saturday evening as Derry used every trick in the book to kill the clock with Ciaran McFaul in the bin. Would a shot-clock as in the Ladies game be worth trialing?

It’s fair to say that Mayo hadn’t a bad performer on Sunday. Sam Callinan has massive pace and did a marvellous job on Shane Walsh. Jordan Flynn, David McBrien and Jack Coyne all carried on from where they left off last season. All the subs when introduced also made handsome contributions. Paul Towey knows where the posts are and Diarmuid Duffy is very game if still a little raw. Interestingly, Duffy’s Ballinrobe had four players named on the bench at the weekend. Has an intermediate team ever had that many players in a Mayo match day squad before? The smart money will surely be on The Robe to win this year’s Sweeney Cup.

Every single Mayo player who got game time will have left Pearse Stadium feeling good about themselves and that can only be a huge positive with games coming thick and fast. Not that we’ll care too much but Galway fans must be worried about their prospects given Sunday’s no-show. They were a disorganised, uninterested rabble! In mitigation, they were missing a host of key players but five years into his management term and Padraic Joyce must be really exasperated at his team’s inconsistency. I don’t see much identity or improvements year on year. They had a great 2022 and came within a whisker of taking home Sam but I felt as if they took their eye off the ball and almost had a year off in 2023. With Peter Cooke’s defection and Damien Comer and Cillian McDaid’s constant injury woes, are they a busted flush?

But that’s their mess to resolve. Mayo are off to a flyer and will fancy having a proper crack at the All-Ireland champions on home turf this weekend. It’s great to have it back!

One more thing … Eight of the nine Ulster counties won their opening fixtures of the NFL while Fermanagh gained a draw away to Meath, giving an indication of how competitive the Ulster championship will be. It’s dog eat dog up North.