Mayo GAA column: 'It will be all about the championship now'

A win for Mayo against Roscommon on Saturday evening in such convincing fashion was a huge step in the right direction. It was a back to basics performance in many ways in terrible conditions. You saw a disciplined performance around the middle of the field where Jordan Flynn and Jack Carney were really recycling the ball.

It's the result that everyone wanted and I think every Mayo supporter would have said: Job done. The the first task accomplished for the season as Mayo should now be safe in Division One for another season.

And then I suppose you look at it a bit closer and you think: Okay, well, where were we in this last week? And I'll tell you, a lot of supporters were annoyed with the Mayo performance in Tyrone. I'm sure the team and the management themselves were annoyed as well. So they knew this game against Roscommon was a big game.

Especially for Kevin McStay in that he knows Roscommon football better than any other Mayoman probably. They're not saying it was a must win, but it was important for Mayo that they win it and they got the result they wanted.

Intensity and aggression

What did they focus on from the start to get the job done? It was pretty clear that Mayo when they're at their best, the identity of the team is its intensity. There was no doubt that you got the intensity in the early stages of the game. It wasn't there in the second half against Tyrone, it wasn't even there in the first half.

But against Roscommon you did not only get intensity, there was also aggression. They were absolutely making sure a Roscommon person didn't get their hands on the ball. And that to me signalled that was the aggression that Mayo wanted to play with. It was none more so evident than in McLaughlin, Coen and Hession driving forward with the ball at times. And when Mayo did have their hands on the ball, they dominated possession.

One thing was evident in the first half that maybe was frustrating in the first half against Tyrone: there weren't as many shot turndowns. What I mean by that is when a shot 25 or 40 metres out was available and those windows were only open for a fraction of a second, they were taken against Roscommon.

Ryan O'Donoghue got a couple of great points. His second one particularly with his right boot, he was under severe pressure. He knew he only had a fraction of a second to get the shot away.

There was probably examples of that last week where players kind of thought, I'll recycle that. I don't want to hit a wide or drop a ball short. It was pretty evident that there was more conviction in the attack in terms of for those instances.

Obviously the leaders in that regard were O'Donoghue and Fergal Boland. They were the players that really backed themselves again and again. And Ryan got a couple of good scores in the first half. And for example Boland really set the tone at the start of the second half with his really good point. So that's him showing that conviction, him showing that courage to go and take that shot.

In-form forwards needed

When you look at the form of the forwards in general terms, you're probably still be a bit worried because again. Boland scores, O'Shea scores from play and so does O'Donoghue but you did not really get anything else out of the other forwards. O'Shea didn't do anything wrong but he didn't handle a lot of ball compared to what he can and what he's used to in the past. So that's still an issue. We still need to get some forwards into a bit of form.

Tommy Conroy gets involved when he comes on and wins a couple of frees, but I really would like to see him back himself. But I suppose he's missed so much football over the last number of years, it's probably going to take a bit of time to get that confidence back.

The second half is much to do with Mayo getting into the right place, keeping possession. Probably the most prominent feature of the second half was Donnacha McHugh driving forward up the field, kicking two points and really punching holes in the Roscommon defence.

When you consider that a bunch of different players have had opportunities in this league campaign, McHugh has really put himself front and centre there.

Also it was great to see Hession. I think he had a good game. He is a very important player for me. He's clever. He's a bit different to some of the other defenders in that he's a good attacker as well but he does in a different way. He's fast but he's not going to beat you with power like McHugh will. He might actually beat you with a change of pace or a jink inside.

It is of course very disappointing to see Eoghan McLaughlin pull a hamstring when you consider the way the game was going for him. He was heavily involved.

Derry will be a different test

You have to give credit to Kevin McStay and his team for saying, we're going to be on the front foot, we we're going to push our half-back line up the field and that's going to create the scoring opportunities for us.

In terms of bigger tests of what will happen in the middle of the field, that upcoming Derry game will be there. They are much stronger in that area of the field than Roscommon. What I'll be looking for in that game is: Can Mayo still be that physical? Can they still not get pushed around in that regard? Also: Who is going to be our man marker? We've seen how difficult it has been for Mayo defensively in terms of picking up somebody to man mark, against Kerry and Tyrone.

Mayo won't be desperate for points after the Roscommon win. It will be about developing for the championship now. That's the key focus.