Mayo need to stand up and be counted, says Noel Connelly

Mayo must show no fear


IT may be a low-key build-up this week but don’t be under any illusions. This has always been the really big championship game in Connacht. Nobody wants to give an inch.
The real championship starts next Sunday for Mayo, and Galway should always bring the best out of any Mayo player. If a player is good enough, he’ll come to the fore against the neighbours. If he’s not, he’ll be found out. There’s nowhere to hide.
This is a huge game for this Mayo squad.
After losing to Longford and Sligo last year, and things being at such a low ebb, Mayo people want to see a bit of pride back in the jersey again.
Supporters want to see a good team performance. They want to see an intensity to Mayo’s game and a willingness to compete for everything.
Is the result secondary? I don’t think so. Winning is the only thing that this group needs right now so that they can build confidence. But they will have to grind it out.

The story so far
THIS is still very much a work in progress for James Horan. He has tried a lot of players and given them a chance but I think he would have been a little happier if he’d had a more settled team for the last two or three National League games.
He’s still finding his best fifteen and the London match wouldn’t have given him any great insight into what his best team is. The names are there alright, it’s a matter of trying to figure out where to play them.
Managing Mayo is an enormous task. There’s a huge amount of expectation in the county.
The goal this summer has to be to win a Connacht title. Also, we need to get a settled, balanced, young team and stick with it.
It’s not a short-term fix. We need to pick a panel of 25 players and work with them over the next two or three years. They need to be built up, physically and mentally.

The London game
THERE are a lot of similarities between us in ’96 and this group, including what happened in our first championship games in London.
I could remember being in the dressing-room in Ruislip in ’96 after our game and everybody had their heads in their hands. I remember Toby McWalter from Balla walked in and said, ‘It’s like a funeral home here lads. We’re after winning our first championship game!’
But it didn’t feel like that. We had performed so poorly.
We flew back to Dublin that night and trained in Westmanstown the next morning. John Maughan ran us like greyhounds. There were lads crawling across the field trying to finish runs.
I can still see ‘Larry’ Finnerty on his hands and knees, thirty yards from the end-line, trying to finish out a sprint and John roaring at him.
That was his way of telling us that that performance wouldn’t be accepted. We, as players, knew though that there were better things to come from us. And once we won another game we just got on a run.
Mayo have to forget about the Ruislip performance now. That game is gone.
The big worry I would have though is that the championship is only going to get faster and harder from now on. Whatever the tempo was like in London, it’s going to 20 per cent more against Galway.
You’ve got to get into the game early, get your second wind and be completely focussed.
Your intensity has to be so high to get over teams like Galway in championship. If you let them get on top of you, then the doubts start to creep in. You have to impose yourself from the very start.

The main issues
THE London game threw up some problems that need to be sorted out for Sunday.
There has to be a settled, reliable free-taker. I think London showed that is a big problem so Alan Dillon and Aidan Campbell need to get them right.
Trevor Howley played as an extra defender in Ruislip but I believe it’s time to go man-to-man against Galway.
Ballintubber won a county title playing that system but you’re dealing with far more talented footballers at inter-county level, and you won’t win the ball back as easy when you lose it.
If there is going to be an extra man in defence, he should only go back once the Galway kick-out has gone over his head. There should be no spare Galway player left free for restarts.
We need a strong line up the middle too; a settled full-back, centre-back and midfield. It’s been very unsettled this season.
Injuries have played a part, but players who were familiar with certain positions at underage level have also been tried in other areas because we were weak there. I’m not sure if that’s worked so far.
I feel that Ger Cafferkey is an out-and-out full-back and Tom Cunniffe’s best position, for me, is centre-back. I could be wrong, but that’s my opinion.

The physical battle
ONE of the things that separates Mayo from the likes of Cork, Tyrone and Dublin at the moment is physicality and athleticism.
We have to get more much more physical to compete with those teams and that’s going to take two or three years of very hard work, individually and collectively. Kildare are a good example of what can be done in terms of building a team up.
Like it or not, there needs to be a ‘streak’ in a guy who plays inter-county football.
When questions are asked, in a physical sense, you have to be able to answer them. You need four or five of those type of guys in a team, especially around the middle. David Brady and Colm McManamon were prime examples back in their day.
Some of the current Mayo squad are definitely tough enough to do it, but they need to be more aware of the need to do it.

What about Galway?
I’D be expecting an explosive start. Galway will want to lay down a marker early on away from home.
It looks like Michael Meehan won’t be fit enough to start, and SeΡn Armstrong being out injured means that they will be missing two key forwards.
That will mean more work for Padraic Joyce.
You can’t buy his experience. To have him on the field takes the pressure off the younger fellas because they know when he gets the ball, something will happen. He’s start or finish something.
But Mayo can’t worry about that. They should be looking to put him on his backfoot at every opportunity, put an athletic marker on him, and expose him as much as possible.
I’d be more worried about some of the Galway U-21s coming in. We might not be expecting them or know their names, and they could leave Castlebar as match-winners.

The verdict
THIS is the quinessential 50/50 game but home advantage might just prove decisive.
The midfield battle will tell a lot. I think if Ronan McGarrity was going to feature against Galway he needed to play club championship last Sunday week.
I don’t know if he’s going to be fit enough to start, but he has a lot of experience and it will be a big boost if he plays. You need a physical presence beside him; somebody like James Kilcullen or one of the O’Sheas.
Also, I’d be looking for my half-backs to be brave. They have to win breaks and primary possession.
Mayo should show no fear. They have nothing to fear. They have a real chance to make a name for themselves and go places. That was our attitude in ’96 and ’97.
We all know this group of Mayo players are better than they showed last summer and they should have no fear of Galway. Let them show no fear.