Mayo's strange decision to call Aidan O'Shea ashore a very costly one

by Martin Carney, Mayo's foremost GAA columnists

ANY misgivings supporters harboured about Galway and Mayo going less than full throttle at one another were dispelled from the first whistle on Sunday.

The distraction prompted by the All-Ireland series draw five days earlier led some to believe that the contest would lack some of its traditional punch.

An allegation that losing seemed the better option to ensure further progress in the championship seemed part of the popular narrative.

The timing of the draw was unfortunate and may be a topic worth returning to over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, however, I’ll make an effort to mint a few words that might somehow describe the latest chapter of this great rivalry that unfolded in sun-splashed Pearse Stadium.

Statistics will record that Galway won their 50th Connacht title, their third in a row, by the minimum margin in a game that lurched from one extreme to another throughout.

If for nothing other than fearlessness, perseverance and character, Galway deserved their win – but once more this will go down as a game where Mayo put themselves in a winning position but failed to see through those crucial final game-defining moments.

Mayo dominated the early stages possession-wise and built up a three-point lead even though at times much of their play was error-ridden.

This nervousness (indeed, evident with both sides) manifested itself through a litany of misplaced passes, poor decision-making and a tendency to slow the tempo at times when fast counter-attacking possibilities seemed more appropriate.

In those early exchanges I felt that Galway were particularly vulnerable.

The memory of their display in Sligo left them so, and Mayo should have exploited this weakness to a greater degree than they did.

Lining out minus the injured Patrick Durcan was always likely to create a void.

His leadership and ability to make the most of promising opportunities have consistently been a feature of Mayo’s better days.

In his absence, Eoghan McLaughlin took his place. The Westport man looked threatening at times with forays down the flanks but too often his end product was betrayed by poor decision making and ill-luck.

One such incident in the second half when he was one-on-one with Galway goalkeeper Connor Gleeson ought to have yielded what in retrospect would have been a match-winning score.

The attempt was flagged as a 45’ that came to nothing, and this was one of the nine wides that Mayo recorded during the game while the Tribesmen had a meagre two.

In this opening period Mayo looked the more likely side. They were quicker to the breaks, combined well and appeared more purposeful than the Tribesmen.

In truth, many Galway players laboured in the heat. Recognising this, manager Padraig Joyce made two substitutions well before half-time by replacing Cathal Sweeney and Kieran Molloy with Shane Walsh and John Maher.

Both substitutes had big impacts late in the game in particular, Maher with his belligerent physicality and Walsh with some memorable teasing runs.

Mayo won the majority of quick ball delivered to the full-forward line throughout but not for the first time, this simple play was too often ignored.

Perhaps the sight of Ryan O’Donoghue being kept under a tight rein by Johnny McGrath discouraged the option but against that, Tommy Conroy showed form and Aidan O’Shea won most of the 50-50 contests with his opponents.

The pick of Mayo's seven first-half scores was Donnacha McHugh’s 20th minute effort.

A well-directed restart from Reape was fielded by the hard-working Stephen Coen who fed an overlapping McHugh, who did the necessary.

In this period Galway found it hard to bring their attack into play. Initially dependent on Rob Finnerty as their main scoring outlet, they increasingly looked to Damien Comer for inspiration as the game unfolded.

Powerful on the ball, keen to get involved and willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, Comer made a huge statement on his first full game in the colours this year.

Yet football is a funny old game. Had Galway lost, their supporters might have directed their ire towards him for not converting a wonderful goalscoring opportunity in the opening quarter.

His effort and the subsequent rebound were brilliantly saved by Colm Reape.

I still thought Mayo’s two-point interval lead was a reasonable foundation on which to build a winning second-half total.

Despite Comer’s effort, Mayo hadn’t seemed unduly troubled by the best the Tribesmen came up with.

Yet an inkling of what was to come was apparent immediately after the break when points from Finnerty, Comer and Johnny Heaney gave them the lead for the first time and, more importantly, lit a fuse under their support base that up to then had been mute.

Mayo weathered this with four of their own and had established a three-point lead by the time Aidan O’Shea was called ashore after 20 minutes.

I found the decision somewhat strange as up to then I felt O’Shea was one of Mayo’s better players.

On the one hand, his tackling, assists, ball- winning abilities and capacity to plug defensive gaps when they arose were evident.

More important, though, is his ability to sense danger and detect the rhythms required late in games. These have stood Mayo well over the years.

This safeguard disappeared with his departure. In contrast, Galway grew in spirit and self-belief, and somehow found the inspiration to outscore Mayo by eight points to four from there to the finish.

In this stage of the game chaos reigned and the calmness needed became a distant memory. Collectively, that bit of extra composure needed to see the game out was missing.

Not for the first time, an inability to manage the clutch moments betrayed the team. Two points up with four minutes remaining ought to have been a lead possible to defend.

Three injury-time frees by Finnerty, Walsh and Gleeson proved our eventual undoing.

It gave the Tribesmen the result they craved and heralded some of the most unbridled scenes of joy I have seen from Galway supporters in some time.

Kevin McStay was a model of restraint in his post-match comments about the referee David Gough.

On the one hand I’m of the opinion that Mayo have only themselves to blame for the defeat but some of the Meath man’s decisions late in the game were hard to fathom.

Losing hurts. Losing to Galway in a provincial final even more so. Picking up the pieces and recalibrating the team for the All-Ireland series is next on the list. Everyone will respond, I have no doubt.

There was little wrong with the effort or application from Mayo. The result in truth could have gone either way.

On the day Galway prevailed. Their gung-ho late surge did enough and wasn’t met with the composure required.