Mayo's national title at Galway’s expense is sweet alright

MARTIN CARNEY COLUMN

IT’S sweet all right. A national title. Galway on the receiving end of a beating that was comprehensive in the end after a display where in-game inconsistencies threatened at times to mar a performance that merited the win.

Make no mistake about it, Mayo were overall the better team. Sharper, fitter, quicker to the ball and when the result was in the balance the team who showed the greater appetite and desire to succeed.

Wind-assisted in the first half, it looked for the opening 20 minutes that only one team turned up to compete. Mayo, without any last-minute changes to the selected line-out, took the game to their opponents and deservedly opened up a five-point lead. Defending stoutly and in numbers, they forced Galway to play a game that was at once lateral and laboured.

As is the norm in the modern game, 15 men behind the ball was a regular feature with both sides. Indeed, whenever Galway managed to decode Mayo’s defensive lock, the outstanding Diarmuid O’Connor was there to intercept the intended pass and launch the counter-attack. Were one tasked with the responsibility of naming Mayo’s overall player from the campaign, it would take a brave person to look beyond the Ballintubber man.

That central eight that has provided Mayo with its fulcrum throughout didn’t disappoint. Coen with his intelligence, Loftus reading the game with wisdom and Patrick Durcan bringing the role of the attacking half-back to the highest level never flagged in their work. Captain Durcan, with his trademark skip, had the pace and guile to penetrate a Galway defence that up to Sunday had the best defensive record in the National League. As one who is unduly self-critical, he will be disappointed that his marvellous score from play in the first period was punctuated by two wides in quick succession.

Unfashionable and incessant grafting is part of the main menu with any successful teams. Covering spaces with lung-bursting runs in the knowledge that the ball may never reach that zone, offering support to others with off-the-ball movement in order to draw defenders out of place and being part of the tackle-gangs that make life a misery for opponents is vital in ensuring success.

Quite often the ‘hod-carriers’ garner less attention and appreciation from supporters yet without their input success would remain a pipe dream.

For the entirety of the game, even when Mayo were floundering in the second quarter, many stood out. The willingness of Carney, McDonagh and Flynn to cover ground and lend support wherever it was needed was a consistent feature of the performance. Flynn’s point from play coupled to that of an earlier one from James Carr were the sole returns from play from the starting forward line in the first half. A justifiable general criticism is that Mayo’s opening-quarter dominance should have been reflected with a scoreline that exceeded their six points to one lead.

COLLISION

In contrast, the closing 25 minutes of play belonged to Galway. The heavy collision between Colm Reape and Johnny Heaney upset the up-to-then rhythms of the game and Galway, primarily though the free kicks of Shane Walsh, clawed their way into the contest.

That barren 25-minute scoring period threatened to undo much of Mayo’s earlier work and yet with two late scores from Colm Reape and Ryan O’Donoghue, they re-established a three-point advantage – which I didn’t think was adequate at the time nor did justice to their promising start.

A brace of early scores after the break from Robert Finnerty seemed to point Galway in the right direction but, just as he opened and closed the opening half with points, Colm Reape added to Mayo’s account with his third from a 45' before giving an outstanding display of goalkeeping that eventually earned him the man-of-the-match award. His technique and poise in striking points from distance may have been remarkable but when memories of this game are recalled, few will look beyond his display of shot-stopping when seeking the reason for victory. In the minds of many he made the league final of 2023 his own.

Up front the Mayo performance was honest and workmanlike. The anticipated inside forward role for Aidan O’Shea was fleeting and ephemeral. Alongside Jordan Flynn for the throw-in, he drifted between that central position and the full-forward line throughout the game to the extent that Galway seemed clueless how to handle him.

Ryan O’Donoghue, busy throughout, had success from placed balls yet just fell short of the expected 100% return. James Carr, embellishing the good work of his inside colleagues, had a good early score but didn’t make sufficient penetrating runs to consistently worry Galway. He was replaced by Tommy Conroy, and The Neale man made a telling contribution late in the game which drew a free that resulted in O’Donoghue stretching Mayo’s lead to three points.

During that crucial period where silverware was on the line, Jack Coyne made two telling contributions. A wonderful intercept that interrupted a promising Galway attack was a prelude to his only score of the game, Mayo’s 14th, which put daylight between the teams. For a young man in his first full season, the standards of his displays at corner-back have gone some way in assuaging the gloom felt by the departure of Lee Keegan and Oisín Mullin.

Overall, it has been an outstanding season to date for Mayo under their new manager, Kevin McStay. Apart from his fresh approach, seeing success result from the new challenges assigned to different players is welcome. His team is well organised yet plays with a sense of freedom and enjoyment. Nonetheless, grounding everyone with immediate effect is now the imperative. Getting minds right for the Roscommon challenge on Sunday is the priority.

With its new format, the championship will make huge demands on all over a short period. Imagine, if a team is to contest the All-Ireland final in late July, it’s possible that they could end up playing ten games over a 16-week period!

Physically, McStay’s troops are in great shape. Having them mentally primed is critical. No better man to do it.