OPINION: Mayo bounce back but face huge challenge against Donegal

THE mood in the Mayo GAA community was very sombre over the last two weeks after the surprise defeat to Cavan and the subsequent issues surrounding the health of manager Kevin McStay. The side went into Saturday's game against Tyrone as big underdogs but in true Mayo style, they produced a great display from out of nowhere to keep their championship season alive for at least one more game.

Group One of the Round Robin campaign is now delicately poised with all four teams sitting on two points after two games ahead of the final round of fixtures on June 15.

However, because Mayo will be affected negatively due to their head to head record against Cavan, they need at least a draw against Donegal to have any chance of progressing to the preliminary quarter-final round, unless Cavan cause a surprise in the other Group One game against Tyrone.

Big response

Stephen Rochford took over as manager for the game and he was undoubtedly a happy man when he spoke to the press after the game.

“We had trained really well over the last two weeks. We had a really good prep last night, on our stay over, and we were really confident that we were coming here to get a performance.We were really frustrated as a collective group about the way we played two weeks ago,” said Rochford.

“We were really focused on what we needed to do and we went about delivering that and I think we delivered that consistently when our backs were put against the wall. When Darragh (Canavan) scored a fabulous goal, we responded.”

Rochford made some brave calls when starting the likes of Conal Dawson and Bob Touhy and he got the response he needed from several other players who performed so flat against Cavan.

With Donegal having defeated Cavan comfortably on Sunday, they now look almost assured of a place in the last twelve, but Jim McGuinness will be hoping to keep their momentum going in the right direction and Mayo will definitely have to play just as well as they did against Tyrone to have any chance of staying in the championship.

But the mood in the camp will definitely now be boosted and they now have two weeks to prepare and put in another fortnight of hard training to put themselves in a position to capitalise on any weaknesses in the Donegal armour.

Captain's part

The return of captain Paddy Durcan was a huge positive on Saturday and if the likes of Diarmuid O'Connor or Tommy Conroy were to return for the Donegal game, Mayo's hand would be strengthened even further.

The football championship has been the poor relation in comparison to the hurling championship in recent seasons but the new rules have certainly had the desired effect, and there are some huge clashes to look forward to in the final round of Round Robin fixtures in two weeks time.

The format has had its critics with only four teams being eliminated during the Round Robin phase but it does mean that all of the games have something riding on them with champions Armagh the only team assured to topping their group.

Winning the group does of course mean that you have an extra week's rest and that could be crucial for the teams who have a genuine chance of winning Sam Maguire.

So it really is a case of 'do or die' when the ball is thrown in over the weekend of June 14/15.

For Mayo a victory would more than likely mean we would top the group as Tyrone will be expected to beat Cavan. But a defeat for Mayo would probably mean we are out of the championship, unless Cavan cause a surprise and defeat Tyrone. It promises to be a weekend of real drama.