THINGS LOOKING UP Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor reacts after missing a chance to score a goal during last Saturday evening’s game against Roscommon at MacHale Park, Castlebar. Pic: Sportsfile
Talking Tactics
Billy Joe Padden
I’M fairly sure that was probably the best football I’ve seen Mayo play in springtime since they hammered Dublin by twelve points in Castlebar five years ago.
I certainly don’t think that there’s been a better league performance since, and that can only be a really good thing going to take on Dublin in Croke Park next Saturday.
Against the Rossies there was nobody dwelling on the ball, everyone moved it on quickly, and all the forwards were getting involved.
I think Stephen Rochford will have been really pleased by the movement of the attack. Watching the game play out, I couldn’t help but think that it was the closest that Mayo have come so far to playing how Corofin did at their peak.
That free-flowing, fast style with guys moving the ball on quickly with the hand and foot, and other lads coming at different angles. It was a joy to watch.
A lot of it has to do with the personnel on the field too, guys like Diarmuid O’Connor and Stephen Coen move the ball well and that what it’s all about.
Having lads like Cillian O’Connor and Fergal Boland in the half-forwardline has changed our attacking play for the better too in my opinion.
They’re both good kick-passers, and can deliver short, dinky passes as well as long defence-splitting deliveries.
Throw in Kevin McLoughlin as well and for the first time in a long time, we have a few players in that area who are excellent in possession.
The sharpness, enthusiasm and intensity that the whole team showed was great to see.
Roscommon were well off the pace and the difference in physicality between the two teams was amazing really.
The Rossies move the ball well, and have some nice forwards, but they were cleaned out on breaks around the middle and that’s an attitude thing as much as anything.
I know there’s probably a tendency for all of us to write down Mayo’s performance a bit seeing as Roscommon were so far off the pace, but you can only beat what’s put in front of you.
It wasn’t all plain sailing though, and there are some areas to be addressed before next Saturday evening.
We’re conceding too many goal chances and last weekend, I counted two clear-cut chances that Roscommon had to hit the net. Plus there were a few more half-chances.
By my recollection there were three occasions in the last ten minutes of the first half when our defence was completely opened. That needs to be sorted out quickly because, even though David Clarke is in the form of his life, he can’t go on producing heroics every day we go out.
Last year we were defensively solid because we played a sweeper, but we’ve gone away from that completely in the first three games of this league.
I have to say I was surprised to see Lee Keegan coming on when Colm Boyle was black-carded.
I can only assume that Lee put his hand up and told management that he wanted to be involved, even though he’d played with Westport in the All-Ireland club final only six days earlier.
But sometimes a player doesn’t know best in these situations, and maybe it would have been better in the long-term to let him take a break for a few weeks.
I don’t think Lee is going to get back to peak inter-county fitness easily without his body getting a bit of a break.
A few weeks to recharge his batteries and maybe get away from football for a weekend or two to switch off mentally would be no harm.
He’s been on the go, more or less non-stop, for the last fourteen months and we’re going to need him at the peak of his powers again during the summer.
Dublin test will provide some more answers
NEXT Saturday night’s game is going to be a different world from last weekend.
For one thing, Roscommon were terrible defensively whereas Dublin’s defence is now the strongest part of their game on the evidence of the last few games.
Next weekend is where to get find out a lot more about Cillian O’Connor at centre-forward, about how Fergal Boland is going to cope with tracking someone like Jack McCaffrey, and how Evan Regan can fare against one of Dublin’s tight-marking corner-backs.
If I was setting Mayo up for the game, and assuming we’re not going with a sweeper, then I’d go for athleticism in every position.
The only decision to make in that case is whether to start Jason Gibbons again or bring Tom Parsons back in.
Saturday is a big opportunity for Mayo to put down a marker and to pick up two more points, but barring a disaster, I don’t think it will cause players or management any sleepless nights if they’re beaten.
Win or lose, they’re going to learn a few things.
And regardless of how a league game in March plays out, Mayo will know they just need it to happen for them once in championship football in high summer.
That’s when it really matters.
I think management will have gained a lot of confidence from the way the team have played in the last three halves they’ve played, so I think Stephen Rochford set them up to have a right cut.
I think Mayo will win.
Dublin are not playing as well at the moment as they have been in the past. They’re now more reliant on forwards coming off the bench to tilt the balance in big games and the strength of their team has shifted to their defence.
There’s a different dynamic in the middle third of the field now when Mayo get the ball, and that’s one of the reasons I think they’ve got a great chance of beating the Dubs for the first time in quite a while.
Mayo move things up a notch
