Roscommon will pose a big challenge

Beating a team once is a challenge, beating them twice is difficult, but trying to beat them for the third time in a few short months is a test of a different colour entirely.

However, it's do-able – just ask the Southampton players who won the Championship play-off final in Wembley on Sunday.

They were looking to beat Leeds United for the third time in a season to make it to the Premiership in what they call the richest game of football in the world. The men from the sounth coast of England managed the task well and were 1-0 winners, but it's never easy when you have two fairly evenly-matched teams meeting time after time.

It's the same for Mayo and Roscommon on Saturday. However, game plans can't be built on presumptions or perceptions.

Mayo need to forget about the opponent and implement the game plan to the best of their ability. At the same time, game plans are great, but if you don't have the intensity or the desire or the motivation to really implement them, to put your body on the line, then you're wasting your time. Gaelic football is such a physical game, and Roscommon, particularly in the early stages of Saturday's game, are going to have a real response.

They'll be playing into the law of averages themselves. They'll have convinced themselves in the last couple of weeks that Mayo will have difficulty beating them three times in a row. So Kevin McStay's men will have to start very sharply.

They did that against Cavan and they'll have to do so again - be really sharp and really clinical, which they were in Castlebar.

REQUIREMENTS

What do Mayo need to do? They need to be physically strong around the middle of the field.

They need to put Roscommon on the back foot. They need to pin Roscommon into their own half because they have good forwards. They need to focus on not conceding goals and that may be the deciding factor on the day.

If Roscommon have limited possession, it's going to be hard for them to win with points alone although they have some good outside shooters in the Murtaghs and Donie Smith. Roscommon aren't as strong defensively as they are in an attacking sense. Therefore, Mayo need to dominate possession and have them play a lot of the game in their own half.

Who will play for Mayo? Cillian O'Connor has to start again and Aidan O'Shea will definitely play, but maybe not from the start.

There's something about challenging the scoreboard regularly as Cillian does, which is hugely important because we just haven't been doing that consistently without the Ballintubber man. In his absence if felt like all the responsibility has been on Ryan O'Donoghue and the return of O'Connor will ease that.

If O'Shea is held in reserve for the latter stages of the game he will be some addition off the bench. He can do a job around the middle of the field or the edge of the square as he's so versatile.

Darren McHale linked play quickly in the early stages of the Cavan game so he will probably start again, which is very tough on Fergal Boland because he really hasn't done anything wrong.

However, he's also an ideal player to bring off the bench because he's an outside shooter. In some respects, Mayo may end up having two really good impact players off the bench in Aidan and Fergal.

Roscommon are dangerous and will be hard beaten. There were indications of their approach last weekend when they played Dublin. Roscommon are best when their forward line is operating well, and scoring. Conor Cox, Daire Cregg, Diarmuid Murtagh will kick points and will win their own ball if they get the opportunity, so Mayo have to get bodies back to clog the area in front of them and help the defenders.

Dublin were good enough to not give up goalscoring chances and Mayo have to do the same. At the other end, when the opportunity arises, Mayo must hit the net themselves. The opportunities will come if the ball movement is quick enough and I'm looking forward to seeing how it will all play out.

Paddy Durcan is a huge loss to Mayo

Sport can be very unforgiving and that's certainly the case with Paddy Durcan. We can talk about games and results and previews and possibilities, but the injury to Paddy puts all that into perspective.

For anyone playing sport at any level, a serious injury impacts on one's personal life and sometimes even their employment, but when it happens in the public eye in such an unfortunate manner it takes time to come to terms with.

Paddy has dealt with a number of injuries over the past few years and even had to come off at half-time in the Covid All-Ireland final in 2020 with a muscle injury.

He's a very experienced player and has been putting in a lot of effort for a long period of time. Then, in a flash, despite all that hard work and dedication an injury rules him out for a full season - that's extremely difficult.

It will require a lot of mental strength to face into the level of rehab that goes into an ACL injury and the amount of work you have to do on your own. That's bound to be hard for Paddy when one considers that he has rehabilitated from numerous smaller injuries over the last couple of seasons.

However, I have no doubt from a personal level he'll attack it and he'll do it and get back. He'll get a lot of support from players such as Cillian O'Connor, Andy Moran, Tommy Conroy and many others who have come back from serious injuries.

From a team point of view, it's a huge loss. More than anything else, Mayo needed a fit Paddy Durcan rampaging up the field, being that impact player that he can be, and leading in that manner. He is probably the most dynamic wing-back they have in an area where Mayo have been really strong over the last 10-12 years.

Without that impact, it's going to be very difficult for Mayo to surprise us and be a real force in the closing stages of the championship.

There's a lot of talk about Mayo's lack of goals. It's no coincidence that when Mayo lose that dynamism to break the line in that area of the field and create that penetration and the overlaps the goals have dried up. It's nobody's fault. It's just one of those things that happen. It's just bad luck.

Paddy Durcan is a huge loss on the football field and we all look forward to seeing him back on the grass as soon as possible.