"Mayo are right where they want to be"

Let's be honest – Mayo have responded well to a tough defeat in the Connacht final and are certainly back on the horse. They've played some good, if a little disjointed, football. They've also shown the right attitude for the most part and have been getting the right results.

The way the championship is now, it's all about navigating through the rounds because it takes at least six games to win the All-Ireland and that's hard to do. There are no extra points for being good at this stage of the competition. All that matters is progression. Dublin and Kerry are past-masters at that.

On Saturday we played well in the first half but our shot conversion was awful – down around 50 percent. That's completely at odds with what happened against Cavan, but understandable when you consider the wind blowing down Hyde Park.

I enjoyed a lot of what Cillian O'Connor did in the first half. He looked sharp, played a couple of really good passes and was lively, but took a few random shots. Mattie Ruane did what he does best, driving forward and kicking a few scores. However, there's no doubt the most impressive performer in the first half was Eoghan McLaughlin. The athleticisim of himself and Ruane caused Roscommon all sorts of problems.

Aidan O'Shea played well in that first half, out the field, did some of his best work, made some great turnovers, won a great free driving at the defence. He also won a ball in the square and laid it off for Ryan O'Donoghue to point.

Ryan played deep in the first half and wasn't overly influential, but that changed when he moved in after half time. I'm not surfe the structure of the attack suited Mayo in the first half. It would have been preferable to see Ryan and Cillian inside and Aidan playing deeper. It worked out like that at times, but the structure wasn't as solid as it could be.

TOO CAUTIOUS

I thought Mayo's positive running game would continue after half-time but they didn't respond well to a Roscommon team who obviously got a bit of a chewing in the dressingroom. Mayo were too one-paced, too cautious, just like they were against Galway in Salthill.

At one stage Cillian had to take things into his own hands and drive over a point from distance. Mayo have to learn from this. They have to start both halves better. They were second best on both occasions on Saturday.

I wasn't sure Cillian should have been taken off when he was withdrawn, but when you have a player like Tommy Conroy on the bench, you have to use him. He got on lots of ball when he came in, as did Conor Loftus

In the middle section of the second half, Mayo were much the stronger team. My GAAGO stream went down at one stage and I missed the Mayo penalty. A lot of Roscommon people are saying it wasn't a penalty, but that's absolutely fine. Down the other end, late on, Roscommon got a penalty. I probably thought it was a correct decision to be honest.

It was good to see Mayo build out a six-point lead in the second half with O'Donoghue linking up well for the decisive scores and Mayo were good in counter-attack situations with McLaughlin prominent here and Darren McHale very effective. He picks passes other players don't see.

Defensively, Mayo did relatively well and it was important to see support for the backs against a good forward line. Providing support for them will be critical against Dublin. Not only will Dublin pose problems one-to-one they will also have support runners coming too and the Mayo backs need the rest of them team to be tuned in and supportive all through. The Dublin game will be intriguing. There is a possibility that there's an outcome where Mayo lose that game, but still feel happier about where they're at that they do at this present time.

The Dublin game is the one that's going to teach us so much and show us where Mayo are at, but that's for next week's column.

"A lot of Roscommon people are saying it

wasn't a penalty, but that's absolutely fine."

TAKING STOCK

Right now, let's look at what we've learned so far. We've got to keep Ryan O'Donoghue as close to goal as possible and continue to see positive things as well from Cillian O'Connor and Aidan O'Shea.

We must start games and start second halves much better. Also, Mayo cannot keep kicking out the ball centrally in the dying moments of games. It cost dearly against Galway in Salthill and the same thing nearly happened in Hyde Park when the ball was kicked to Sam Callinan in a similar position. If he's dispossessed or turned over 35 yards from goal in a central position, it could be curtains.

In that situation you want the receiver moving forward, somewhere near the sideline so he can move up the pitch. A better plan needs to be found on the training ground.

Also, Mayo need to build out leads. When they're six points up that needs to be moved out to seven, eight, nine and finish it off.

However, we cannot be too critical of what Mayo did in Roscommon. It was going to be hard to go and win three times in a row against the same team in a season, but they did it. They controlled the whole game. They did enough. I for one was happy with it all the way through and they've done all that was required.

Now, let's move on to Dublin and see where we really are at! It should be fun!