Positive news on injury front as Mayo's season keeps on rolling

Andy Moran is hopeful of having a fully fit squad from which to choose from by the time his Mayo team takes to the field against Louth in a mouthwatering All-Ireland SFC semi-final on Saturday, July 11.

In the wake of his side's 0-23 to 0-18 win against Cork in Croke Park last weekend, the Mayo senior football manager gave a positive update on Paddy Durcan and Diarmuid O’Connor, who both missed the match with injuries, as well as Eoin McGreal, who was withdrawn early in the first-half.

“Diarmuid did the most Diarmuid thing ever really, to be honest, just pushed himself too far last week, if I'm being honest. That's what happened to him.

“But he was just out. I'd say if we had another two days, Diarmuid would have been fine. Paddy will be... I'd say he'd be close. We were trying to push him on Wednesday night to make it, but he just wasn't right for the 26th. So hopefully he'll be back.

“I don't think McGreal is serious. He kind of jarred his knee a tiny bit. So, we'll just go in and we'll assess that. But I think everyone else is good in there.

“But these lads sure have done unbelievable work like in the physio room, in the weights room, in the recovery room. They've done unbelievable work and you know, they're reaping the rewards now. We'll enjoy the next two weeks and we'll see how the semi-final goes.”

On the game against Cork itself, Moran cited the mix of a ‘workman-like shift’ and ‘brilliance up front’ as key to their five points victory.

It was quite the turnround in the space of a week for the Green and Red, who were cut open by Meath in the first 25 minutes in Castlebar just seven days earlier. Now they are into an All-Ireland semi-final, which seemed just as an unlikely prospect at the end of April’s Connacht semi-final defeat to Roscommon as well. But Andy Moran has credited the responsibility taken by the players since that derby defeat two months ago.

“It all goes back to the Roscommon game and the week after it and what Ryan [O’Donoghue], Darren [McHale] and Jack [Coyne] did,” Moran told the media in Croke Park last Saturday. “Jack, the captain, and two vice captains just pulled everyone together. They knew that wasn't our best that we could produce. We probably made a few mistakes leading into that game in terms of coaching, managing, stuff like that.

“We took the hit for it and we kind of moved on. But the lads have been just superb since. They were superb before, but they've been really, really good since.” 

The Cork game marked Mayo’s third straight weekend in action and Moran admitted little training was done in the build-up to tie against the Rebels given the condensed nature of their schedule. Two of the other quarter-final winners, Kerry and Dublin, were also in action in Round 3 the week before and along with Mayo, had individual brilliance up front to swing their respective ties against Tyrone and Galway in their favour.

For Mayo, it was the full-forward line of Kobe McDonald, Ryan O’Donoghue and Darragh Beirne who lit up Croke Park, kicking 19 of Mayo’s 23 points. Indeed, as seniors, it was the Croke Park debut of both McDonald and Beirne, yet the teenagers were not overawed by the occasion.

“I expect that of them in terms of the way [they play], but until you're here, until you play here, you don't know the feel of it. That's the truth from a playing point of view, from a management point of view. I've seen fellas excel here and crumble here, so until they're here, you don't really know. So now I've to go away and kind of assess, okay, these boys can do it.

“I even thought Eoin McGreal was outstanding before he went off. He did very well on Óg Jones for the goal chance, and then he makes a burst up the field, just gets a knock and gets taken off.

“He’s another one there that is just at that point where they're excellent. But to see the young lads, to see Darragh, after going off after 20 minutes last week with an injury, to come back and score seven points in Croke Park on his debut was just unbelievable.” 

Conversely, Cork’s shooters were not up to scratch. They kicked sixteen wides overall and Cork boss John Cleary admitted it cost them dearly.

“Anytime they went up, they were more efficient than us. It was just one of those days that we couldn’t seem to get on terms.

“We were shooting a bit under pressure and lads got a bit frustrated. The more wides we had, the more pressure came on the lads. It was just one of those days that our efficiency wasn’t good enough.

“I suppose in the days and weeks to come we might be looking at the season in general, but I don’t think tonight we’ll be looking at the season until things settle down. We’re just disappointed that we lost today and that’s the only thing on our mind at the moment.

“Give credit to Mayo as well. Their defence was excellent. Their efficiency on the other side was very, very good.”