Upbeat Larkin looking forward to Donegal rematch

In the finest spirit of making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, Mayo joint manager Ray Larkin reflected on his side’s coughing up of a strong lead against Roscommon last Saturday and used it as an opportunity to try and shift some of the pressure and expectancy over onto Donegal, who on the weekend after next will try to build on their status as the proven horse for the Nicky Rackard cup course.

“It was a heart-stopping game at the end there” said Larkin, with a surprisingly calm demeanour, given the tension of the closing minutes.

“We had gone from eight up, we probably didn’t get the rub of the green with the frees and a couple of decisions that went against us, but I’m really proud of the lads. We had a really good first-half, and then we died a bit. But it’s where we want to be, against Donegal who’ll probably go in as favourites.” 

More on his assessment of Donegal shortly, but from a Mayo perspective, it’s no surprise that 20 wides was the story of the day.

“I think the players lost their way there in the first-half, shooting from out around the middle of the field and from silly angles,” said Larkin.

“We thought we’d address it at half-time but there was swirly breeze blowing into the far corner and we never got used to it.

“It’s great that we’ve loads to work on, and if we had won well we might go in overconfident. The last couple of games, we won well so this was a good test for us to see where we are. We’re slowly building momentum (this year) and we’ve a tendency that when we’re good, we’re very good.

“We came out in the second-half, Roscommon got a great start and in fairness to our lads they reacted really well. We got the scores, Cormac got a great goal, Seán (Regan) did really well, but I’d still say that if Donegal were watching there this evening, they’d still probably go into the final quietly confident.” 

Certainly the comfortable nature of Donegal’s 0-21 to 0-14 win over Mayo in Letterkenny last month could be a source of comfort to the Tir Chonaill men, but Larkin isn’t unduly concerned about that ‘form guide’.

“Going up to Donegal, we didn’t hurl really well. We were two points up in the second-half and I think got the run on us after that, and we never responded. We were probably a bit leggy as well. I think we’re peaking at the right time and we’ll be quietly confident ourselves,” he mused.

“We’ve nothing to lose, Donegal have got one over on us. We played very badly that day, I think we had no shot from play in the second-half. It's great for the Mayo hurlers and supporters to be preparing to go to Croke Park, it’s a big pitch and a big day for the lads, so it should be a great game.”