McStay’s team looks on a very slow learning curve

Long before the hooter sounded at MacHale Park, there were large pockets of blue in the stand as Mayo supporters opted to leave early, having correctly concluded that a drubbing at the hands of their oldest rivals was all that awaited them. I suspect some of these supporters still don’t have heat or electricity in their homes so it says something about their state of disillusionment that they opted to leave early. The only question now is: how many of them will be back in a fortnight for the next crunch league game against Tyrone?

Last Sunday was a great opportunity for a reset for the Mayo senior team after an autumn and winter that were blighted by rumours of player dissatisfaction, which were not helped by a monastic silence from the County Board. Here was a sun-drenched early-spring day, Galway were in town and an unexpectedly large attendance had turned up at MacHale Park for the first home game of the league campaign. Mayo needed to rise to the occasion and deliver a performance – if not a result – that would give their supporters something to feel optimistic about for the year ahead.

The first-half was almost identical to the previous week’s encounter against Dublin in Croke Park. Mayo began slowly and allowed their opponents to open up a fairly decent lead in the first quarter – in this case, four points – before storming into the game to eventually lead at half-time by 0-9 to 0-8.

There was lots to like about Mayo during that 15-minute period of dominance towards the end of the half. Newcomers like Conor Reid, Frank Irwin and Davitt Neary made fine contributions while Paul Towey showed that he could have a big part to play in Mayo’s championship campaign later in the year by posting 0-4 in just 10 minutes, including a fine two-pointer.

Mayo had 55% of the possession in that first-half, took nine out of ten scoring opportunities and created a couple of goal chances. Ominously, though, Galway created 14 scoring opportunities against the wind, including a great goal chance spurned by the otherwise excellent Sean Kelly who was set up by the peerless Shane Walsh. The Galway talisman already had his marker, Sam Callinan, under pressure in that first-half, shrugging off his challenge in the eighth minute to score a wonder point from an almost impossible angle.

Imagine the bewilderment of Mayo supporters then when the unmarked Walsh sauntered onto a pass from midfielder John Meagher at the start of the second-half and had all the time in the world to effortlessly kick a two-pointer. It seems astonishing that Mayo were caught napping in that moment and it set the tone for what was to happen during the rest of the half.

Minutes later, Galway pinned the home team into their own half as Mattie Ruane tried to take a line ball near the goal-line. He hesitated for what seemed like an eternity before off-loading a lateral pass to Sean Morahan who was promptly bundled over the end-line for a ’50. Goalkeeper Conor Gleeson was wide with the resulting effort but that 30-second cameo spoke volumes for Galway’s attitude to Mayo in the second-half.

The harsh truth of the matter is that we were physically bullied all over the field, not just up front but in defence too where the Galway forwards gave their man markers a torrid time. Obviously, the wind was a factor in the Tribemen’s dominance on the scoreboard, but this wasn’t Storm Éowyn that was at their backs either and the conditions certainly shouldn’t be seen as the decisive factor in the game.

Nor should the referee be blamed for an abject second-half display from Mayo. There is no doubt that Noel Mooney missed a bad, late challenge on Diarmuid O’Connor but the Cavan man cannot be scapegoated for the repeated three-on-three infringements that proved very costly for the home side.

Mayo manager Kevin McStay offered a perplexing explanation for these incidents – one of which resulted in a two-point swing for Galway in the first half. McStay’s theory was that there was a sort of loose arrangement with the referees that players could wander over the halfway line and they’d just be shepherded back by an understanding official. It seemed like a strange interpretation of the rule-book – and that was even before RTÉ Sport clarified with the Football Review Committee and the referees’ body that no such guidance had been given. Even if there had been a conversation along those lines, surely the Mayo management would have urged their players to obey the three-on-three rule in the second-half after that very costly infraction in the opening 35 minutes? It was obvious that Mooney was implementing the rule to the letter of the law so why tempt him to do it again in the second-half?

The 15 minutes after half-time were as poor from Mayo as we have seen for some time. Having began the second-half with a one-point advantage, we were seven down after 15 minutes and by then the game was effectively out of reach unless there was a spectacular Galway collapse, which looked wholly unlikely.

There is an argument to be made in defence of Mayo that the team is not nearly at full strength right now whereas Galway have an embarrassment of riches, especially up front where they seem to be able to unearth ball-winning, scoring forwards at ease. There is no doubt that the return of players like Jordan Flynn, Jack Carney, Aidan O’Shea and Patrick Durcan will strengthen the middle third for Mayo, but last Sunday’s performance will have done little to raise the spirits of supporters who felt decidedly underwhelmed by last summer’s championship campaign.

The loss of form of our best forward Ryan O’Donoghue is also concerning. On several occasions, he was beaten in one-on-one battles with Johnny McGrath, and even when he escaped the Galway man’s shackles, he didn’t look his usual vibrant, creative self. Ryan has been such a great player over the past few seasons for Mayo and, hopefully, he will rediscover his form as the season progresses. Shane Walsh certainly proved once again on Sunday that form is temporary but class is permanent.

The new rules suit gifted players like Walsh who now have a lot more room to work their magic. Indeed, it must be a revelation for forwards who have spent the last few seasons trying to eke out a square inch of space for a shot at goals. Galway have certainly adapted well to the changes but Mayo seem to be on a very slow learning curve, which is surprising given Kevin McStay’s undoubted knowledge of the rule-book from his time as a pundit. The kind of loose interpretation of the rules that he spoke about after the game seems completely at odds with the thoroughness of his approach in the past.

There is no point in complaining about the rules because everybody is in the same boat. Mayo just have to get on with it now and make sure they are up to speed on issues like the three-on-three before the next league outing against Tyrone, who will also be looking to bounce back from a bad defeat to their neighbours and rivals Armagh. Failure to defeat Tyrone in MacHale Park will leave Mayo staring relegation in the face, especially as our next two games are away to Armagh and at home to Kerry.

A 10-point defeat to Galway is bad but sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t reflect the pattern of the game. For example, a soft goal or two conceded in the dying minutes can offer a false impression about an otherwise close game. However, in this instance, Mayo were ten points down with ten minutes still left on the clock, and we also had five minutes where we had a man extra yet we still failed to close the gap before captain Stephen Coen got his marching orders in the 64th minute.

Coen’s sending off pretty much summed up a dismal day for the Green and Red. The people who left early to go home to their cold, dark houses were expressing an understandable sense of frustration and disillusionment. A marked improvement in our performance is needed in a fortnight. Relegation may ultimately be our fate but let’s not go down without a fight.