Fortune favoured the brave against Roscommon - Billy Joe Padden

The good weather has lightened the mood and a lot of the football on offer over the weekend was enjoyable. One thing that stood out to me in particular was the bravery of Cork and Donegal as they executed plans to exploit their opponents' weaknesses. So when we look at the Mayo performance the key difference between the first and second half of Sunday's game was Mayo players backing themselves and being brave.

The question often raised in modern-day Gaelic football is whether fortune actually favours the brave? This weekend it did.

Tommy Conroy is an example of this. He backed himself. We were all wondering about him. I felt sorry for him. He was serching for form and found it in the second half when a strike from the right wing went straight over the bar. That was Conroy being brave. He was going for that long range shot, getting it and then after that he looked like a different player and went for another one.

That was hugely impressive and I was hoping to see that from him during the last couple of weeks. If you miss you miss, but he didn't miss, because he has the technical skill for it and that gave him a boost of confidence, the team an impetus, and more importantly it took a bit of pressure off Ryan O'Donoghue and Fergal Boland.

COURAGE

And then you add in the fact that Conor Loftus comes off the bench. A player that has had some difficult times in the Mayo jersey. A man who has the ability to shoot the ball, he is a good kick passer, a good finisher on his day, and he backed himself in a different way. He was only on the field less than a minute when he cut inside, on his weaker foot and snapped one over the bar. That was another player who said 'I haven't had many opportunities this year, if I get one I'm going to take it.' In his case again, fortune favoured the brave and I'm happy to see that.

'Momentum is a real thing and is something that you can build throughout the summer'

When Mayo have a couple of more players like that, then they are a more dangerous team.

There was bravery for example in Rory Brickenden putting boot to the ball to Ryan O'Donoghue in the second half for an excellent mark.

Even in the first half Jack Carney played a brilliant ball along the terrace side over to O'Donoghue who took a half turn and fisted it over the bar. That was brave football where they put boot to ball. I would say at halftime Kevin McStay used that example and said to the players - “You can do that! You have the ability to play football like that!”

I believe that was on Rory Brickenden's mind when he was driving down the field at the start of the second half befoe putting the lovely diagonal ball to O'Donoghue to mark as mentioned.

KEY DIFFERENCE

There was similar pieces of play in the second half, players trusting their ability to play a good pass into the forward. The management will have encouraged them to do that at half-time in my opinion. Full credit goes to them to execute it. That was probably the key difference between the teams.

I didn't see enough bravery in the first half though. Apart from Aidan O'Shea's goal right at the start when he backed himself. Using his strength, using his power, his ball-carrying ability to drive across the goal, brush off tackles and having the experience and skill level to smash the ball low along the ground back across from where he was coming.

That was him backing himself and that is exactly what you want to see in that situation. But I'm not one to say full-forward is his natural position. When he is in that situation close to the goal with the ball in his hand it's great, but I think he was really good when he went further out the field in the second half and you saw a different type of attack in the full-forward line with Conroy and O'Donoghue. There was more spacing there and O'Shea was out running around in midfield, using the ball very well. I thought he was very influential.

MOMENTUM

Looking at the bigger picture, the second half was definitely an improvement from what we've seen in the league campaign and that's what you want. They will have to prove it again when they go against Galway but the Roscommon match will give them confidence. There are a few more players coming into a bit of form, which is great because momentum is a real thing and is something that you can build throughout the summer.

Defensively Roscommon got some outside shooting chances. Mayo never really looked like they were going to give away a goal. There was a couple of passes in the first half, flat in front of the goal but Mayo were quick around the 'D' and showed a lot of discipline defending that area. There were times when I thought they could've broken away quicker, where they could have played long balls after a Roscommon attack had been turned over.

On one occasion Paddy Durcan had to turn back because he had no-one to play to. The second half saw more opportunities for quick counterattacks. To be brutally honest: Mayo did not utilise them all. When they look back at the video footage, they will see that where O'Donoghue could have found someone on the inside and instead ended up double-bouncing.

The tempo seemd to increase the more the second half progressed and that played into Mayo's hands. When the speed is up in a game I think few teams can keep up with Mayo. That will be something that they will look to do against Galway which will be a very intense game. The second half this Sunday offered encouragement and now all thoughts turn to Salthill.