Mayo's scoring statistics paint a sorry picture

Things are bad when the most exciting moment in a half of football is the arrival of an ice-cream vendor. The cheery tune from the van momentarily lifted the prevailing gloom at MacHale Park on Sunday afternoon but it was a brief respite from the grim spectacle unfolding out on the pitch.

The new rules were supposed to make Gaelic football more entertaining but nobody told Mayo and Tyrone as they served up a game so bad it is impossible to forget. Indeed, if the County Board want to get rid of the Revenue Commissioners, they should just show them a video of this game. Some of us have watched nocturnal episodes of Oireachtas Report that were more exciting.

For those who have somehow managed to erase it from their memories, let’s just briefly recap. The teams finished the first quarter at 0-1 apiece and then went on something of a scoring spree for the remainder of the half to go in at the interval with Tyrone leading by 0-5 to 0-4.

It was an error-ridden game with both sides gifting each other chances – sometimes in the same passage of play. Tyrone singularly failed to capitalise on Mayo’s many mishaps and dropped a series of very kickable efforts into the grateful arms of Colm Reape who was then able to start a counter-attack. This was particularly prevalent in the second half when several gilt-edged chances were spurned at key moments by the Ulstermen.

Had either or both of the Canavan brothers been on the field, the home side would have been in big bother and the game would probably have been over as a contest by the final ten minutes. Instead, Mayo inexplicably found themselves a point ahead by the 61st minute after Frank Irwin kicked his third point of the afternoon, but even then Tyrone were afforded more chances through goalkeeper Niall Morgan and Eoin McElholm before Cathal McShane finally struck the equaliser from a free.

Morgan, who was more of a scoring threat than any of the Tyrone forwards, had a great chance to put his side back in front in the 66th minute but opted for a strike at goal and his shot was parried by the Mayo defence. It was the last good opportunity for the Ulstermen as Mayo struck late with points from substitutes Ryan O’Donoghue and Fergal Boland to take a valuable league victory, although whether this result will be enough to avoid relegation in March is debatable.

Looking at these two teams, it is almost certain that at least one of them – and possibly both – will go down. Had they been afforded the chances that fell to Tyrone, the rest of the teams in the division would have beaten Mayo – and there is a good chance that a few teams in Division Two might too. Donegal nearly scored as much as these two teams combined while Dublin posted more in their second-half tour de force in Tralee on Saturday night than Mayo managed in 70 minutes.

Mayo did show commendable composure in the final five minutes – aided no doubt by the arrival of O’Donoghue, Boland and Aidan O’Shea – but Tyrone had enough chances in the preceding five minutes to have opened up a fairly comfortable lead.

There are some positives to be taken from this victory, not least the performances of young players like Irwin, Davitt Neary and Conor Reid, who have all impressed at different points during the first three league fixtures. But the overall performance of the team is well below where it needs to be and it is quite obvious that Mayo have not adapted to the new rules at all. In fact, while other teams are posting high scoring averages, Mayo are struggling to even match the standards of previous years.

A few statistics are worth considering. In the first three games of last year’s league campaign, Mayo averaged 16 points per game; this year, the average is marginally less (15.3). In comparison, Galway had a scoring average of 10.6 points in their opening three league games in 2024; this year it is 19.

Of the teams who were in Division 1 last year, Mayo and Derry are the only two teams who are scoring less now under the new rules than they were a year ago. In fairness to Derry, they shot the lights out in their league campaign in 2024 and their average score this year (17.3) is still well ahead of Mayo, even if they are rooted to the bottom of the table.

Of course, scoring averages can be skewed by one easy victory, but Mayo’s marksmanship in the National League has been on a downward trajectory since 2023. Back then, in Kevin McStay’s first year in charge, the scoring average across the eight games (including the final) was 17.5. By last year, it had dropped to 16.4, and now under new rules that are designed to facilitate more scores, the average currently stands at 15.3, which is the worst in the division (Tyrone and Armagh are marginally ahead with 15.6 and 16 respectively).

People come to football matches to see scores. The poor attendance at MacHale Park on Sunday was undoubtedly influenced by several factors, including the cold weather and Mayo’s dismal showing against Galway two weeks earlier, but it is also a reflection of the home side’s style of football. Mayo are terribly ponderous in possession and the new rules have done nothing to improve matters. There were many occasions on Sunday when Mayo players had opportunities to try for two-pointers but instead played safe and hand-passed to a colleague who was in an even less promising position than they were. On one occasion, we had the bizarre spectacle of Enda Hession holding onto possession around the middle of the field and raising the ball in the air as if to signal some tactical ruse. He did it four times before eventually hand-passing to a colleague after a Tyrone player finally decided to engage him. What it was all about is anybody’s guess but it certainly didn’t set hearts a racing.

Perhaps the most inexplicable moment of the entire game came in the 59th minute when Mayo were awarded a 13-metre free for a three-v-three infringement. The scores were level and everyone expected Ryan O’Donoghue to tap it over and give Mayo the lead. Instead, he opted to go for a two-pointer and played it short to Darren McHale who had his effort at goal blocked down. Had Mayo gone on to lose the game, there would have been some post-mortem about that farrago. O’Donoghue should have been instructed from the sideline to take his point and it is a bit worrying, to be quite honest, that a player would improvise in this way when his team is in such a precarious position in the league standings.

The hope is that Mayo will gradually improve as the campaign continues. This result will undoubtedly boost confidence, especially among the younger players who deserved the victory for their honest endeavour over the last three games. The trip to Armagh next weekend will offer a very interesting test because the All-Ireland champions need a victory as much as Mayo. Indeed, the current league standings are such that there may be four or even five teams battling it out at the bottom of the table until the final round of the campaign.

Mayo’s next two games are against teams (Armagh and Kerry) who need the points and won’t be in the mood to experiment with tactics or blood new players. We were lucky to meet Tyrone minus the Canavan brothers but we’re unlikely to meet Kerry sans the Cliffords. Of the four games remaining, three are against teams who are mired in the relegation battle with ourselves, so there will be nothing offered up easily – and it is hard to see any team giving us the get-out-of-jail card that we got from a wasteful Tyrone.

Ultimately, the win last Sunday is all that matters but the performance gives rise to as many questions as answers. We have players to return – most notably Tommy Conroy, who should benefit from the additional space now available up front – but Ryan O’Donoghue’s form has dipped and that is a cause for concern. He has carried the team over the last few seasons, in terms of scoring responsibility, and we will need him back to his brilliant best in the weeks ahead.

In his post-match interviews, Kevin McStay acknowledged that this Mayo team is a work in progress and that is about the best anyone can say at this stage. But watching Mayo these days is hard, hard work and any talk of ending the interminable wait for Sam Maguire seems about as incongruous as an ice-cream vendor on a frigid February afternoon.