Plenty at stake for Moran's men in their trip to Tralee

Andy Moran could hardly have hoped for his maiden league campaign as Mayo manager to begin any better. Four wins from five games and the only defeat coming against a team that no one else in the division has been able to beat either, Moran has got the county – and the country – talking. His Mayo side is playing with a verve and positivity that mirrors the manager’s trademark personality.

Of course, being on the cusp of reaching a National Football League final in spring is nothing new to Mayo – Kevin McStay got us there in 2023 and 2025 and before him, James Horan in 2019 and 2022 – but there’s a different feel about the manner in which the Green and Red are going about their business.

Not only are they the highest scorers in Division 1, they are the second highest scoring team across all four divisions – with only Derry, in Division 2, having scored two points more than them. In fact, Mayo’s total of 121 points (8-97) after five rounds is a massive 36 points more than they had scored at the same stage of last year’s league campaign. Central to that has been a monumental improvement in their return of two-point scores; 18 successful conversions from outside the arc is better than every other team in the division.

But it’s not as though Mayo have abandoned their defensive principles and responsibilities altogether either because not only are they the top scorers of two pointers, they are the team that has conceded the fewest two pointers (9) in Division 1 also. Indeed their total concession of 100 points (7-79) in five games is only nine points more than Kerry, who currently boast the meanest defence in Division 1.

Mayo will make the long journey south to Tralee on Saturday (4pm) knowing that if they were to beat Kerry on their home patch, they would be assured of a place in the Division 1 final in the event of a Roscommon defeat at home to Donegal the following afternoon.

Neither result is a given of course, but there would seem more prospect of a positive result for the Green and Red than for Roscommon who were humbled at the Hyde by Dublin by all of eleven points last time out whereas Donegal have yet to lose a game this season.

Mayo have lost on both of their last two visits to Austin Stack Park but only by one point on both occasions, while they did beat Kerry by two points in Castlebar in last year’s reverse fixture, so all the evidence is that Saturday should serve up quite a competitive game between two teams who are unlikely to thumb their nose at the opportunity to pay an early visit to Croke Park this season.

Complicating matters slightly perhaps for Andy Moran however, is that two of his brightest prospects now have another competition to consider. Darragh Beirne, who scored 2-9 in his first four senior appearances before sitting out the Armagh game, and Kobe McDonald, who has scored 1-6 without yet starting a match, are also part of the Mayo U20 squad that commences its Connacht championship campaign four days after the senior team’s trip to Kerry.

How that influences the manager’s selection remains to be seen, although Moran did, post-Armagh, indicate a potential return of other panellists for the clash with the All-Ireland champions.

The championship’s all-time leading scorer Cillian O’Connor and Mayo vice-captain Darren McHale, neither of whom have any minutes under their belt this year, and Tommy Conroy, who only featured in the opening round against Galway, could all have an involvement on Saturday.

“Cillian did a full training session this morning, playing really well, going in the right direction and we will introduce him when we feel it is right,” said Moran after Mayo’s win against the Orchard County.

Team captain Jack Coyne (illness) and Conor Loftus (calf) were both replaced during that game while full-back Donnacha McHugh (virus) and corner-forward Fergal Boland (glute) were named to start but didn’t.

Kerry’s only game in Austin Stack Park so far this year saw them cough up a twelve points lead when Galway earned a third round draw. Their only other home game was in Killarney in the opening round where a hotly-disputed point from the very last kick saw them beat Roscommon by the minimum. Their third Connacht opponents of the campaign will hope to prove equally as sticky opposition but with Kerry entering on the back of one-sided victories in Clones and Croke Park against Monaghan and Dublin, confidence will be high among the locals that their side can get the win to leapfrog Mayo who currently sit second in the table.

David Clifford, who has been used sparingly across Kerry’s five games to date, was sprung for the final quarter hour against Monaghan yet still finished as the game’s top scorer while Sean O’Shea and Paudie Clifford both finished with four points apiece. How Bob Tuohy might fare against Kerry midfielder Joe O’Connor, or whether Jordan Flynn or Jack Carney might be designated the job of curtailing the All-Star instead, could be pivotal, particularly given that even in victory, Mayo struggled to dominate that area against Armagh last Sunday week.

It’s possible the brilliant Tom O’Sullivan will make his first start for Kerry since helping Dingle to All-Ireland club glory, so pitting itself against a hard-nosed defence that also includes Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey, and Tadhg Morley will demand that the Mayo attack shows there has been substance behind their early season statistics.