TAKING STOCK: What have we learned from Mayo's League campaign?

IT'S hard to say for sure what Mayo wanted from Sunday, and whether a league final was something they'd have rather avoided. 

Most guesses would say yes, but they were honest to the end at least and put in a really impressive display.

You can say with certainty, however that Roscommon had no intentions of getting to a league final, because their performance was absolutely dismal. 

They barely laid a hand on Mayo all day, who strolled around MacHale Park like they were having a light training session. 

In turn, the atmosphere reflected that only of a challenge match

Both teams experimented and used the game as a way of getting much-needed minutes into players who needed. It felt like a dead rubber, such was the effort, or lack of, from Roscommon. 

Andy Moran won’t have learned much from it, and you’d be wasting time analysing it too, so other than highlighting Mayo scoring 4-26 with 14 different scorers you could well and truly strike it out.

This columnist was scrolling the always interesting comment section of Mayo GAA Blog last night to get a feeling of the mood as the curtain came down on the 2026 National League. 

And a comment from a poster named Mayo1992 summed it up: "We're not as bad as our worst match (Kerry) and we're not as great as our best match (today)." 

That's about right. 

The fallout from that Kerry defeat and the Donegal loss was probably overdone. The gap isn’t that big, for sure, but the league is not the place to find definitive answers.

There were other comments floating around the Blog and X that suggested getting to a league final wouldn’t be too bad; a chance of retribution to right one of those two awful performances from the campaign.

However, with surety I believe worst thing that could have happened today was Mayo qualifying for a league final. 

"A day out in Croke Park" and a ‘chance at silverware’ doesn’t cut it. The current structure means nothing to be gained from it – at least nothing long lasting.

And that is the broader point here that must be said. 

Once again we’ve witnessed how great a competition the National League. Gripping all the way to the final whistle on Sunday afternoon. Top-class entertainment and TG4’s coverage on Sunday was absolutely phenomenal (even with my well below average level of Gaeilge!). 

Every year we get sucked in to the drama, it’s hard not to. However, that irresistible charm can lead us down dead ends when it comes to expectations for the championship.

We have been making this mistake for years. When the first round of the Connacht Championship comes around, the league is ancient history. There might only be a few weeks in the gap, but it’s a whole other world. 

What’s done is done and most teams have enough professional resources at their assistance to wipe the slate clean both mentally and physically. 

So let's take a breath here. The league is done and plenty was gained from it. 

Scoring Freely

Let’s start with some positives… scores looked to come in a much freer fashion this year.

In the 2025 league, Mayo’s scores across the seven rounds totalled 5-118. That’s an average of 19 points per game. Scoring was laboured at times. Too much of the burden fell on one or two players, and the attack often lacked variety and penetration,

In 2026, the numbers look different: 3-18, 1-18, 0-14, 2-30, 2-17, 0-19, 4-26. That’s 12-142 across seven rounds, an average of 25.4 points per game. 

Albeit, Sunday’s 4-26 inflates that, but the trend is visible across the campaign. More players are contributing and, most importantly, more two-pointers are being converted.

Defensive Questions

If the scoring is the good news, the defence is the concern heading into championship.

Kerry ripped through us for 2-29 in Tralee. Donegal carved out 1-19 in Letterkenny and even in the Armagh win, they pulled back a nine-point deficit to almost sneak something.

There has been plenty of experimentation at the back and I’m not fully convinced Mayo have a settled defensive system in place. It was exposed by Kerry, who were excellent. 

Like a broken record, this is where I come back to the David McBrien question. Well, at this stage I don’t think it’s a question at all – I’m convinced he has to be at full back.

Mayo are not short of bodies around the middle and the return of Mattie Ruane will bring more depth. McBrien’s reading of the game, his physicality, his ability to sweep and cover is crying out to sure that role up. 

Sam Callinan's Campaign

Arguably Mayo’s best player of the league. 

He has kicked on from a strong club championship with Ballina and looks a different player. 

The running power was always there but what has noticeably changed is his footballing ability. He's more comfortable on the ball, more threatening with the foo and has become a proper modern wing back.

O'Donoghue at 11

I wrote in these pages a few weeks back about the value of Ryan O'Donoghue at centre forward and I stand by every word.

There is a narrative that by having O'Donoghue out the field, we are limiting his scoring threat inside, but the figures don't back that up. 

In 2025, he averaged roughly two scores from play per game from full forward. His full arsenal of skills really comes to the fore at a de-facto 11 - dictating play, winning dirty ball, linking the lines, and still getting on the scoreboard.

I don't believe Moran is fully sure yet who fills the rest of the full forward line, with the exception of Darragh Beirne who I believe has done enough to get his championship start. There are plenty of options so there’s no want or reason to pull O'Donoghue back inside.

Getting Conor Loftus and Paddy Durcan back fully fit is a priority for that half back line and to complete the middle diamond.

Looking Ahead

If things align as expected, Roscommon coming to MacHale Park for the Connacht Championship in four weeks will be a different animal to Sunday.

Mayo still have loose ends to tie up. But five wins from seven in Division 1 is a strong return. 

The squad is deeper, the attack is clicking better, and our ability to get more two-pointers on the board has added a new dimension.

They are the facts.