No county rides the Big Mo more than Mayo

This Mayo team will make fools of us all. After being heavy on the criticism after the previous week’s turgid display against Tyrone, it is only right that we are fulsome in our praise of Mayo’s stirring performance in Armagh on Saturday.

Last Sunday week in MacHale Park we bemoaned the fact there were two poor teams slugging it out. However, it was a different story in the city of the two cathedrals on Saturday night. Both teams looked like top Division 1 outfits as they went at it hammer and tongs. In fact, such was Mayo’s second-half dominance that an alien just landed from Mars would have struggled to pick out the reigning All-Ireland champions. Kevin McStay will be disappointed not to have secured the two points but he will be secretly delighted at the manner in which his team went at Armagh in a blistering second-half display. Green shoots at last.

Eamonn Dunphy was notorious for flip-flopping on his views about players. One week it could be “This guy Ronaldo is a cod”. A few weeks later “I was wrong, Bill, Ronaldo is the real deal.” I believe psychologists call this phenomenon “cognitive dissonance” i.e. the mental discomfort or tension that happens when a person holds two conflicting beliefs, values or attitudes at the same time. One cannot help but hold two conflicting views about this Mayo team right now. They are a bit Jekyll and Hyde.

Are we any good or not? In the second-half, we looked like world-beaters. Against Galway and Tyrone and Dublin, not so much. Maybe that is just the nature of the ebb and flow of the National Football League. It is week on week on week and no team can be good all the time. We should probably reserve judgement on this Mayo side until the league and season is done. Trying to make a grand proclamation on the ability and potential of Mayo, or any team, in the middle of a helter-skelter league is a fool’s errand.

What is clear though is that Mayo thrive on chaos and are fuelled by momentum. Do we want a game of control, order and patience? Feck that! What about a manic, frenetic game of mayhem? Yes, please! I don’t know how sustainable it is to play like this every game but I know which I prefer to watch and which is more entertaining. And maybe, just maybe, that buccaneering brand of abandon is in our DNA and suits our players’ and fans’ characters and personalities. Perhaps we just need to embrace this and stop trying to be something we are not.

It is generally accepted that the “MO” on Mayo number plates is an abbreviated form of the word “MAYO”. I think it could actually be short for “MOMENTUM”, as no county rides the Big Mo wave more than Mayo. At the weekend, the momentum igniter came when Stephen Coen kicked a monstrous two-pointer. That was the catalyst for Mayo overturning an eight-point deficit in a matter of minutes. Not only were the two-points extremely helpful at the time but it also gave Mayo players a template for having a go and taking on some of these big shots.

The first-half wasn’t great but I actually don’t think it was as bad as the half-time scoreline suggested. Mayo’s shooting efficiency wasn’t hectic and they eschewed many decent scoring opportunities in favour of recycling the ball and moving it side to side. However, Armagh struggled to score in to that end too. What’s more, Mayo and Conor Reid were desperately unlucky to see his shot hit the inside of the post and trickle across the goal line. Armagh, at the other end, got a big slice of luck with their goal as Rory Grugan just fly-kicked a lost cause back into play for Paddy Burns to slot home.

Mayo’s approach was totally different in the second-half though. They threw caution to the wind and took on many more shots at goal. It was like a switch was flicked. Ryan O’Donoghue really came in to the game too. He seemed to drop a bit deeper and get on more ball around the left-half forward position. He’s so creative and threatening that we want the ball in his hands as much as possible as he invariably makes things happen.

Last week, I called for ROD to be given a break as I thought he was looking a bit leg-weary and blunt. Shows what I know. He was absolutely electric in that second-half. He is so important to Mayo’s cause. When he plays well, we play well.

O’Donoghue dovetailed nicely on the left wing with Davitt Neary. For one who never played intercounty underage all the way up, the Breaffy attacker is some find and has been a revelation so far this campaign. His goal was magic. He showed great awareness and speed to flick it past the defender but was still about 30 yards from goal so had loads to left to do. He rapidly gobbled up the ground before performing the deftest dinked finish. To show such composure and soft touch after descending upon the goal so swiftly was seriously impressive.

Paul Towey did the good, the bad and the ugly on Saturday evening but he was an instrumental figure in the comeback. He cannot do everything that these massively athletic GAA players can do nowadays but he is a finisher and they don’t grow on trees. You won’t score much without finishers and I was delighted to see him get on the end of some nice moves in the second-half.

Management deserve great credit too for their role in instilling the second-half shift in philosophy. That must have been a good half-time team-talk! It was more than just words though as they made some crucial shifts in personnel that contributed to the turning of the tide. Jack Carney had a massive impact and won some key primary possession when Mayo’s need was greatest. Sean Morahan and Aidan O’Shea made positive contributions too. For the second week in-a-row, Mayo have used their bench to good effect.

A word for an old warrior too – Matthew Ruane was superb. He covered some ground and it was fantastic to see him have more shots at goal. He kicked three and missed as many but it was a throwback performance from the Breaffy midfielder. When he is at his best he is rampaging through the middle and having frequent pops at goal. He probably moved away from that a little bit in recent times, refusing the shots or laying it off but was back to his penetrative best at the weekend.

It was another exciting and entertaining game under the new rules. Of course, they’re not perfect but half-time leads no longer count for jot so we are getting entire games full of drama, rather than pockets here and there. That said, I’m not sure the hooter is helping the spectacle. It was a bit of an anticlimactic end to a fascinating second-half. With 45 seconds left on the clock, Ethan Rafferty had a kick out but he knew Armagh wouldn’t have enough time to go up and get a winner so he took his time, declared and sent it long with seconds left and no time for any more plays. I’m all for the timekeeping being taken out of the refs hands but the hooter seems to suck the life out of the dying moments of thrilling contests. And like all these rule changes, you have to ask: how will the hooter work at club level?

Not so long ago, us doom merchants were resigned to a tame relegation. A week is a long time in sports and politics and that point and performance have given renewed optimism while edging Mayo closer to safety. Indeed, had we gotten both points we may be looking upward at the possibility of a League Final. It’s a funny old game. One day you’re the pigeon, the next you’re the statue.