The reason why Mayo GAA supporters are so frustrated with their team

by Martin Carney, Mayo's foremost GAA columnist

THE weather fictionally associated with championship – hot, sunny conditions fanned by a not-too-demanding breeze – arrived on cue. Perfect conditions for an expectant Mayo crowd awaiting episode one of what they hoped would provide a lengthy summer series.

In total, a crowd of around 9,000 witnessed a game that Mayo won by three points but in doing so failed to scale the heights that many expected.

When all’s said and done, championship games are there to win and all that ought matter is who is in the lead at the hooter.

In this respect Mayo were left standing. By doing so they earned a tilt at Leitrim in the provincial semi-final and consigned Sligo to Tailteann Cup duties later.

First the positives. To begin with, Mayo won the game. Along with this, Kevin McStay managed to give six players their championship debuts.

Allowing them taste the difference between league and championship is central to their development.

Ballina’s Dylan Thornton had a satisfactory outing in the middle third where aside from hard work, he crowned his display with a fine score.

Davitt Neary played in a similar vein. One point registered ought not obscure some of his flashes of real pace that at times stretched Sligo to the limit. Fenton Kelly started instead of Jordan Flynn.

His willingness to interchange between half-back and half-forward meant that he was well involved before being substituted by Fergal Boland.

Conal Dawson, Niall Coggins and Sean Morahan came off the bench on an afternoon that will always be special in their memory.

Lastly, two goals and 20 points was a handsome return from the day’s work where no fewer that 10 different players contributed to the score-sheet.

As it happened, all of these were needed to keep a plucky and determined Sligo at bay. Though Mayo were the better team for lengthy swathes of the game, they never fully shook off their opponents.

This was in some parts due to their own inability to really make their early dominance, in particular, count on the scoreboard.

I expected the early Ryan O’Donoghue goal to act as a prelude to more of the same but although openings and chances were forged, the scoring rate never accelerated.

A mere six points for the remainder of the half was a poor return given the number of goaling chances created. Although the wide count during the same time was just two, a lack of efficiency and killer instinct prevailed when the openings cried for fulfilment.

Sligo took encouragement from this. When they probed forward they encountered a Mayo defence that occasionally looked ragged and by the interval, Sligo – having faced the wind – were within three points of Mayo.

Much of their threat came from their inside line of Alan McLoughlin, Niall Murphy and Pat Spillane. The trio between them over the course of the game contributed a grand total of 14 points and always carried a hint of danger.

What frustrates Mayo fans is that their team doesn’t make greater use of their dominant periods.

Midway through the first half all eyes were focused to see could and would they extend their six-point advantage; it didn’t materialise.

The reality dawned that a team 19 places behind them in this year’s Allianz National League was providing substantial sticky resistance.

Aidan O’Shea, as he did all day, came up with the immediate answer on the resumption when he goaled after an assist from Jack Carney.

Although Thornton added a point, Sligo gave notice they were going nowhere when wing-back Luke Towey finished a good move to the net.

As was typical of the tit-for-tat nature of the game, an impressive Darren McHale replied with two points of his own and not for the first time stretched Mayo’s lead to six.

The ‘what could’ and ‘what might have been’ moments graft themselves to every game.

Sligo folk, on recalling their side of events in last Sunday’s encounter, will forever wonder whether or not Pat Spillane’s glaring goal miss would have altered the result had it been converted.

To their credit, his team-mates never allowed heads drop and from there to the hooter indeed outscored Mayo by two points; one goal and seven points to eight points.

Coming up to the hour mark, Cian Lally rifled a thunderous shot to the Mayo net that provided hope.

In these crucial later moments, some aspects in the Mayo performance began to unravel. With his early restarts, Colm Reape gave notice of a marked improvement from the game in Croke Park.

As the final 10 minutes unfolded this cohesion and certainty became blurred somewhat. Short restarts failed to find their target, others went over the sideline, and a team that by then contained a number of inexperienced players became rattled.

Despite all this, Mayo were in front by seven points when substitute Conal Dawson scored a point.

Furthermore, they seemed to manage their possession astutely. This they did to take the sting out of the game and achieved it, to a degree, by moving the ball latterly and drawing Sligo onto them.

Adding to their total was of secondary importance; running down the clock was the understandable priority. Holding possession for its own sake seemed the favoured option.

With the enhanced regulations, situations that had an air of certainty in the past are now more doubtful. Mayo’s late seven-point advantage, that may have been watertight last season, was suddenly reduced to a one-score game on the back of a brace of late two-pointers from Alan McLoughlin and Niall Murphy.

It took a wonderful fetch from Aidan O’Shea from Colm Reape’s final restart to ensure that order was restored and Mayo did just enough to earn the spoils.

Carney, Coyne, Darren McHale and Aidan O’Shea led the charge throughout. Aside from linking play effectively McHale contributed four points from play.

Carney’s three were the icing on the cake for a really purposeful performance. Coyne defended well overall, but O’Shea deserves all the plaudits that come his way. He had a hectic battle with Eddie McGuinness, gave and took in equal measure, and provided the leadership without which Mayo would have struggled.

The reality is that on a beautiful afternoon, his team made hard work with an uneven display in carving out a win against a really brave Sligo team

In a weeks’ time, episode two is a visit to Carrick-on-Shannon for a tilt with Leitrim.

Expecting anything less than a Mayo win flies against all rational prediction. Winless in the league, indeed failing to fulfil their Fermanagh game, Leitrim are struggling at the moment.

In Mayo’s case, the remaining period until then will allow the team work on the areas that require improvement and perhaps afford a player like Patrick Durcan the necessary time to fine-tune his fitness.