This week will tell us a lot about Mayo

From Raifteirí to reality… 

Just two weeks ago, this writer was waxing lyrical about the arrival of springtime and the rising fortunes of Mayo football after an encouraging victory over Dublin in a sun-drenched MacHale Park on February 1. However, the temperatures have plummeted in the interim and the fortunes of the Mayo footballers have taken a bit of nosedive too.

The defeat to Donegal last Sunday will inevitably be categorised as a ‘reality check’, but as stated here a fortnight ago, one swallow doesn’t make a summer – and, in this case, one stinker doesn’t define a team. The performance in Letterkenny was poor – as poor as anything we witnessed during 2025 – especially in the first-half when we didn’t score from play for 25 minutes. Indeed, it was almost the 16th minute by the time Ryan O’Donohgue scored a two-point free and by then Donegal had built up a lead they were never going to surrender.

Mayo had gone into this table-top clash buoyed by victories over Galway and Dublin, yet if there was an optimistic mood in the camp it was difficult to discern in that opening half as the men in green and red played with a lethargy that seemed to suggest they were low on confidence. Donegal were clever in that opening quarter, retaining possession for long periods and never allowing Mayo to get into any sort of rhythm. In many ways, the first ten minutes were like a game played under the old rules as Donegal engaged in intricate hand-passing in their efforts to prise open the Mayo defence. They eventually broke the deadlock in the ninth minute through Conor McCahill and followed it up with another point from the same player in the 11th minute and a free from Oisin Gallen in the 13th minute.

Mayo’s kick-passing style had garnered plenty of compliments after the opening two games, but Donegal gobbled up the ball that was played into the Mayo full-forward line in the first-half. It was terrible ball, aimless, hopeful and lacking any sort of penetration – the kind of ball that makes defenders look like All-Stars and forwards look like also-rans. It was 25 minutes before Mayo scored from open play – through Jordan Flynn – and Bob Tuohy was the only other Mayo forward to raise a flag from play during that first-half. Both scores were well-taken but they weren’t well-worked. They were shots that had a high-percentage risk whereas Donegal were working themselves into positions that left them with virtually unmissable opportunities. Time and again, Donegal worked the ball back and over the Mayo defence until they found a shooter – often Gallen – in a pocket of space, usually in front of the posts. It was impressive to watch and was a stark contrast to Mayo’s more hopeful and less structured approach, which yielded just three points from play over the course of the half, the fifth coming from Sam Callinan in the 31st minute – again an effort from distance.

Mayo were fortunate to be only six points behind at half time, especially when the possession statistics showed 71% in Donegal’s favour.

To be fair, Mayo were much improved after the restart, scoring early points through Darragh Beirne and the returning Conor Loftus, who also had a goal opportunity saved by Donegal’s netminder Gavin Mulreany. In the 39th minute, Darragh Beirne also had a chance to raise a green flag when he weaved his way through the Donegal defence before attempting to place the ball, soccer-style, past Mulreany. The goalkeeper would have been beaten if there was a bit more power behind the shot, but he saved comfortably and Donegal went down the field and kicked a two-pointer shortly afterwards through Ryan McHugh. That was effectively a five-point swing, and the game was over as a contest once Donegal raised a green flag of their own in the 46th minute through Conor O’Donnell.

There were some positives for Mayo in that second-half. The Donegal kickout came under huge pressure and we won a lot of ball around the middle third, the returning Conor Loftus made a big contribution and younger players like Darragh Beirne and Bob Tuohy held their own on a tough afternoon. However, this was a bad beating and the gap between the teams looked enormous at times, especially in the first-half when Donegal were at full tilt. They must be the most mobile team in the country, and their defenders are impressive to watch when they bomb forward like they did last Sunday. In many ways, they are reminiscent of Mayo in their pomp under James Horan when the likes of Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle, Keith Higgins and Donal Vaughan became part of the attack and usually contributed vital scores.

The Donegal defeat may have been an aberration for Mayo who are still evolving under Andy Moran. We’ll get a clearer picture next Sunday when Mayo travel to Monaghan to face a home side that are rooted at the bottom of Division 1 with zero points after three games. However, Monaghan’s league position belies a campaign that has seen them score at least 0-17 in each of their three games, including against Dublin in Croke Park last Saturday evening where they left a host of goal opportunities behind them. Indeed, Monaghan created far more goal-scoring chances against the Dubs in Croke Park than Mayo did in MacHale Park, so they will be far from a pushover next Sunday. This is do-or-die for Gabriel Brannigan’s men who know that defeat to Mayo will almost certainly condemn them to Division 2 football next year.

For Mayo, the game is crucial too because there are no easy fixtures after this one. We are at home to Armagh before travelling to Kerry and then finishing up in MacHale Park against near neighbours Roscommon. There won’t be any handy points there. Roscommon looked very impressive against Armagh, notwithstanding the Ulster men’s late fightback, while Kerry will only improve as the spring progresses and the ground dries out. Armagh are a team that will push Mayo all the way in MacHale Park and nobody would be surprised if they left with the two points.

The Monaghan match is far from season-defining, but it will tell us a lot about this Mayo team under Andy Moran. Can they immediately address the deficiencies that were exposed by Donegal or will they continue to cough up scoring opportunities by leaving their defence badly exposed on the counter-attack? There were times last Sunday when Donegal defenders like Peadar Mogan were running uncontested from one half-back line to the other, and it was just too easy for them to pick a pass to a forward in space. That has to change against Monaghan and if it doesn’t Mayo will be coming home with nothing because it is hard to see the Farney men leaving another bunch of goals behind them. At the moment, Monaghan and Dublin look like the two teams most likely to be relegated, but Mayo could get dragged into that dogfight if they fail to get a win next Sunday.

What it all means for championship is anybody’s guess but if you were looking at the three Connacht teams in Division 1 last Sunday, you’d have reached the conclusion that Roscommon have a better chance of stopping Galway’s drive for five than Mayo. However, all that can change in a week and our tendency in Mayo to fixate on one bad performance is unhealthy. For example, if Mayo had surrendered a 12-point lead to Galway in MacHale Park – as Kerry did in Tralee – there would be lads calling for Andy Moran’s head.

Hopefully, the lessons will be learned from the Donegal defeat and we will see a different Mayo in Kavanagh Country next Sunday – never mind the poetry, we’ll take a prosaic one-point win.