EDITORIAL: Room for improvement for Mayo

THE country was bathed in sunshine over the weekend as the GAA senior football championship got underway and Mayo got the job done in their Connacht quarter-final with a low-key three point victory over Sligo at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar.

They racked up a big score of 2-20 but the concession of some 2-17 against Division Three opponents will mean Kevin McStay and his management team will have plenty to work on ahead of a semi-final clash with Leitrim on Saturday, April 19.

Having already played eight games against tough opposition in the National Football League, Mayo did look a bit lethargic on Sunday and manager McStay admitted the recent gruelling schedule may have taken a lot out of his team.

“Maybe the last four weeks has taken a lot out of us. Three of those games were very important games for us to keep our status,” McStay said when asked why Mayo were, in his words, ‘patchy’ against Sligo.

“The final game against Donegal, we obviously couldn’t take any chances with it. Today, we didn’t gain enough momentum when we won key ball, just turning it over a little bit cheaply, just finding it hard to get rhythm.

Concentrating on the positives

“I’m going to concentrate on the positive. We’re still in the championship. We’re not out. It’s Sligo that’s out of it. The scoreline was decent. We could have padded that out with a few more goals, we had great goal chances, we have to hope and plan that we’ll be better at that going forward. We had ten or eleven different scorers and six championship debutants, which is great. It will give them a feel for it and we might be able to get another bit of it in the next round.”

McStay's squad continues to take shape and when one considers they were without Jordan Flynn and Eoghan McLaughlin, and long-term injuries Paddy Durcan and Tommy Conroy, there will certainly be big competition for places when they visit Carrick-on-Shannon in eleven days time.

Mayo will of course be raging hot favourites for the game against Leitrim but they will be looking for a much improved performance ahead of what will be a very stern test against the winners of the other semi-final between Galway and Roscommon.

Big wins

Both those sides enjoyed big wins over New York and London respectively over the weekend and their clash in that semi-final will now be eagerly awaited. Galway conceded 20 points on their trip to the Big Apple and Roscommon, although they are rank outsiders at 7/2, will fancy having a cut at Padraic Joyce's men when they play their semi-final in Hyde Park on Sunday, April 20.

The Connacht Final has been pencilled in for Sunday, May 4, so Mayo will be planning to bring their 'A game' for that encounter as they try to secure their first Connacht title since 2021.

But for now, their attention will turn to the clash with Leitrim and the focus will be on an improved display and the concession of less scores defensively.

This weekend will see the likes of Dublin, Tyrone and Armagh get their championship seasons up and running with a total of six games down for the decision as the 2025 championship begins to gather a head of steam.