Mayo seek safety behind Derry’s walls

ONE more win will all but guarantee that Mayo remain in Division 1 for 2026. Easier said than done, of course, particularly when it’s Derry in Celtic Park. 

But do Mayo have a better chance at beating Derry than they did last year? Consider the opposition first. Derry, now managed by Paddy Tally, are bottom of Division 1 with just one point. If Tyrone and Kerry gain points this weekend and Mayo get a result, Derry are guaranteed to be relegated to Division 2. 

They host a Mayo team that seems to have finally found their mojo after a stuttering start to their 2025 league campaign. That makes Kevin McStay’s men the favourites - on paper, at least.
But wait, haven’t we seen this before?

Cast your minds back to Mayo’s last championship game. Derry, having already lost three championship games, were written off before a ball was thrown in.

The weather in Castlebar was dour, and the football equally so. Mayo should have won it playing badly. Instead, Derry held out to force it to penalties. The Oak Leaf County won the game of Russian roulette with the size 5, and a long, bizarre, soul-searching silly season ensued out west.

Since then, Derry have got a new manager and Mayo have lost Cillian O’Connor. 

Regarding relegation, Mayo are not out of the woods yet, sitting two points above seventh-place Tyrone. 

Derry, while underdogs, are still a dangerous proposition. Though their scoring difference is the worst in Division 1, (-24) they have still scored (119) more points than Mayo (95). McStay’s men have the joint-worst scoring tally in Division 1 with 87 points kicked in five games. Derry’s only point of this league was salvaged after coming from nine points down against Galway - the same Galway that gave Mayo an almighty clipping in MacHale Park last month.

Of course, we also have to factor in the new rules. The average number of two-point scores from open play across the four divisions has risen steadily from 7.9 in round one, peaking at 9.1 in round three before descending to 8.3 in the last round. 
It’s a rule that Mayo have been somewhat slow to embrace. The green and red have had just seven successful two-point shots from frees and from play since the start of the league. 

In Shane McGuigan, Derry have a man who can - and does - score from anywhere. He caused Mayo serious hassle in their last league game against Derry, kicking 1-6 in a five-point win on a day when Mayo dodged a St Patrick’s Day hiding on home soil. 
Derry had ten different scorers in that game. The exact same number of players scored when they self-destructed in a 1-24 5-15 defeat to Kerry a few rounds ago. Clearly no one-man team so. 

Donnacha McHugh, having done so well on David Clifford, will likely be tasked with shackling McGuigan. Sam Callinan may have to wait another day in the full-back line to pick up Benny McCarron or Niall Toner. That’s just one part of the puzzle though. 

Matthew Ruane and Jack Carney excelled against a limited Kerry midfield the Saturday before last. This Sunday, they’ll need to be on top of their game against Conor Glass and Anton Tohill, two of the finest midfielders in Ulster. 

With the short kick-out foreclosed by the new rules, plenty of ball will head towards Glass and Tohill from both goalkeepers, giving Derry an ideal launchpad for a red and white bombardment. 

If Mayo’s midfield can win their share of kickouts, it’s up to Davitt Neary, Fergal Boland, Jordan Flynn, Darren McHale (or whoever it may be, we do have options there) to either move it up through the hands at speed or kick it to Ryan O’Donoghue as quickly as possible. 

A repeat of the slow-moving dance of death we saw in MacHale Park last summer (and for much of this league) will not serve Mayo well in their first league game in Derry since 2015. 

They’re not out of the woods yet, but the light is visible and within touching distance.