EDITORIAL: Hard to gauge where Mayo are at ahead of Connacht Final

IT may not have been pretty but Kevin McStay's Mayo team are where they want to be as they prepare over the next two weeks for a big clash with old rivals Galway in the Connacht Final at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park on Sunday, May 4.

Both performances against Sligo and Leitrim in the Connacht championship thus far have been underwhelming, but as McStay acknowledged after the Leitrim game last Sunday, his players now have a body of work to undertake ahead of the clash with Padraic Joyce's team.

“We’ve prepared for that game for six months. There will be spice in the build-up over the next two weeks. We have a body of work to do – there’s no doubt about that. We have to put the head down and work. This final is about us.

Improvement needed

“We have to improve in all departments. We’ll be faced by a different scenario the next day. Every game is different. We have pretty much a full squad to pick from and it’ll be tasty over the next two weeks. There are jerseys on offer and I’m hoping everyone is hugely motivated for training on Tuesday night,” said McStay after the Leitrim game on Saturday afternoon.

After an impressive dismissal of Roscommon last Sunday, Galway go into the Connacht Final as overwhelming favourites to beat Mayo, but Padraic Joyce believes it will be an almighty battle.

“We need to put ourselves in these big games and there is no bigger game than Castlebar in two weeks’ time.

“I think form will go out the window. It's going to be hell of a occasion, probably a sellout crowd down there on a May Bank Holiday weekend so we're looking forward to that and we'll get ready for it,” said Joyce after the Roscommon victory.

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Galway are currently third favourites to win Sam Maguire this year, just behind Kerry and a re-juvented Donegal, who disposed off a fancied Monaghan team with ease over the weekend.

So the fancied teams at the top of the market have all had stern tests so far in the championship whereas Mayo arrive into the Connacht Final without having to show their full deck as of yet.

The question is do Mayo currently have the players to really put it up to the top teams when the chips are down? In Ryan O'Donoghue and Aidan O'Shea, they have two of the current best forwards in the country and players like Jordan Flynn and Diarmuid O'Connor have shown in the past they have the capabilities to perform on the big stage

Galway firepower

Defensively, Mayo are really going to have their hands full against Galway, as it is likely that Shane Walsh and Damien Comer will come back in to compliment the likes of the in-form Rob Finnerty and Matthew Tierney.

It promises to be an occasion to savour in MacHale Park on May 4 and it is hoped that the Mayo GAA supporters really come out in force and create a raucous atmosphere like the one witnessed when Connacht rugby recently hosted Munster in Castlebar.

The game is not the be all and end all of the 2025 season but Mayo will undoubtedly be doing everything in their power to stop Galway claiming the Nestor Cup for a fourth year in a row.