LET’S be clear, Mayo are exactly where they want to be. Of course, now they have to produce a top-class performance to have any chance of beating Galway, but they’re precisely where they expected to be when the draw was made.

Sunday’s match bears a lot of similarities to the 2006 Connacht Final when we played them in Castlebar and Mickey Moran was manager.

Before that game we just got out of Carrick-on-Shannon, after an even tighter game than Mayo had a few weeks ago. Yet, we were good enough to beat Galway in a game that I remember was quite poor.

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I think it came down to a dodgy free when Finian Hanley got penalised for supposedly fouling me in the corner right near the old tunnel to the dressing rooms. Conor Mortimer hit over a great free from right in the corner and we had won it.

Sometimes, when you’re coming into a Connacht final or a big game and you haven’t played well. It really is just about grinding it out. And if I’m being honest, that’s probably the only way I can see Mayo win next Sunday’s game. 

You’ll not win these games if you’re thinking you’re going to go out and put in an all-world performance. It really is all about little wins - it’s the Al Pacino ‘inches’ speech in a nutshell.

It’s about just trying to win your individual battle. Do what you’ve been asked to do by the coach from a tactical point of view. Do it good enough that you get the better of your man or you get the better in your area of the field.

Mayo are going to have to play up a level compared to what they’ve shown all year, and they need to drag Galway down and make things more difficult for them. Then it becomes more of an even game and then it’s about winning those key battles.

GAME PLAN

IT’S a huge challenge ahead. Galway have a lot of options. They have Shane Walsh, Rob Finnerty, Comer - players that can hurt and be match winners on their day.  Cillian McDaid, Paul Conroy and Matthew Tierney have huge ability to get scores as well.

That’s why I think Mayo’s strategy has to be about those middle area players, those physical ones being dominant and winning their battle, because without that, they don’t have much of a chance. 

It’s all about getting the upper hand around the middle of the field. I don’t ever remember beating Galway without being able to be on top physically. They’ve got a lovely football team, a lot of good footballers, a really deep squad, there’s no doubt about that.

The game plan for Mayo to win here has to start with that physicality, that work ethic, that intensity around the middle of the field. And I really do expect that to be totally different to what we saw against Sligo and Leitrim. 

It’s about how much you can get out of Mattie Ruane, Jack Carney, Jordan Flynn, Diarmuid O’Connor, and those players in that area, how they can create the platform to get good ball inside to Ryan O’Donoghue.

I have regularly mentioned in this column that we are very reliant on O’Donoghue. However, at the same time, if they can create that platform in the middle of the field where they’re moving forward with the ball a lot it will create opportunities, and Mayo have to be adventurous. 

GO FORWARD

THERE’S too many times in games last year where they’d win the ball in the midfield and the first pass was backwards. That can’t happen on Sunday.

They’ve got to get that Galway defence back-pedalling. Their first reaction has to be go forward with the ball and take a chance.

There are times when I would like to see Flynn or Carney win that ball and drive forward. We’ve all seen how good Ruane is when he gets to stand up a defender, particularly another midfielder.

He stands him up and then he accelerates past him and goes and makes something happen. We need to see that on Sunday.
Of course there’ll be times when they don’t win clean possession - they then have to be physical and aggressive and make sure that Galway don’t win clean ball. They have to make sure that Galway don’t go forward and their first pass has to be back. 

MORE HELP NEEDED

IF that first pass from a Mayo midfielder can be a 30, 40 yard foot pass, well, then you’re talking goal scoring chance territory. You’re talking point scoring chance territory straight away because teams just don’t have as many defenders back.

That has to be the focus because O’Donoghue, as good as he is, will not get enough scores on his own to beat Galway. Definitely he will not if there’s not quick ball getting to him.

Those middle third players driving out of there will have to be a scoring threat. In the past, we’ve had a scoring threat from the back, from Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle, Donal Vaughan or Paddy Durcan  It’s different now.

Our defenders are not contributing enough on the scoreboard. I know I’m asking an awful lot of them, but they’re well capable of chipping in with vital scores. They can all carry the ball. They’re all good footballers.

That’s the way Mayo will win this game - win the middle third, drive forward, get quick ball inside and have scores on the board from a range of players. There has to be a huge and valiant effort from Mayo - that’s the only way I can see Mayo winning the game.

If they take that approach, really go for it, give it everything, and they lose, well, so be it. Nothing can be left to chance, every inch has to be fought for and every battle won. That’s the way Mayo have to be to win this game.

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