Mayo GAA column: The fun has just begun

The opening round of Mayo club championship football never disappoints. You think you might know the lay of the land; how clubs are shaping up and who will beat who. But championship doesn’t follow any script. Known form and all that goes with it is often just smoke and mirrors. Round 1 of championship is the date everyone was aiming for and all are reluctant to truly show their full hand until that day comes around. 
We were thrown up the usual number of surprise results – most notably, Ballagh’ beating Knockmore; Charlestown rescuing a draw against Mitchels; Holly/Carra scraping by Kiltimagh; Ardnaree defeating The Neale and Tourmakeady turning over Shrule/Glencorrib (in what was actually the second round of the junior championship). It would be remiss not to mention our own result against the much-fancied Westport, pushing them to within a couple of points. It caught a few by surprise. 
One ‘expert’ embarrassingly had Balla down for a 13-point spread against the 2022 County Champions. 
You wouldn’t make it up. 
Mind you, championship has no place for moral victories and we don’t either. This columnist had a fascinating chat on the Mayo Football Podcast last week, reviewing the first round of the championship alongside Nigel Reape, Mike Finnerty and Rob Murphy. 
It was concluded that Round 1 is always a tricky one to predict. Every team targets their season towards peaking around this time. The league really, while competitive at the time, is just an afterthought. You want players available and fit for the end of August and generally most squads are in far better shape on opening day, than they were throughout the summer months. 
The only pressing issues clubs face is the late returners from the USA and trying to blend them back into the team.
Anything else like injuries and suspensions are completely uncontrollable. 
Managements and teams know who they are facing in Round 1 for months and every decision between then and now is revolved around preparing for that game.
So it is the perfect environment for any team to catch another on the hop. Teams don’t get to hide in the long grass anywhere near as long between Round 1 and Round 2, so the surprises get less likely. The cats are very much out of the bag and any jokers generally used up at this stage.
And as the championship enters Round 3 and the knockout stages, the cream has risen at that stage and you know what you are going to get. By then, the football will have drastically changed too. You’re then entering ‘Winter Football’ time.
Pitches are wetter, and slower. Evenings are getting darker and colder. Defences become more rigid and slick, free flowing forward play becomes more challenging.
It is a crying shame that we can’t experience a club championship when summer football conditions are at their height. But that’s the cards we have been dealt and that’s one of the exciting things about it.
It’s no coincidence that Westport won the county championship two years ago when they changed their playing style.
The old version of them would have won a summer championship long before they ended the drought in 2022 because their team is made for hard ground and quick ball.
But the wiley Shane Conway and Martin Connolly knew that their style had to better reflect the demands of winter football and that they did just that.
That’s ensuring you are water tight in defence, retaining possession and being deadly accurate when presented with scoring chances.
It’s no coincidence that every top senior team in the country is playing this style of football. Rule changes might be able to do a lot but they won’t change the weather and the style of football required to win during it.
When a team gets to the knockout stages of the championship, all that matters is winning and getting the job done.
There is no time left for open heart surgery or to be arguing about the current state of football. It’s about shutting the opposite down and doing enough to get over the line.
With that said, the group stages will always be entertaining. And the craic has only started.