Rochford expects ‘massive challenge’

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Ger Flanagan

STEPHEN Rochford says Mayo are ‘really looking forward’ to playing in GAA Headquarters next Saturday, and expects a ‘massive challenge’ when they play the Dubs.
Mayo are highly unlikely to get anywhere near as much scoring opportunities as they did against Roscommon last weekend. It is also much more likely that Dublin will be more clinical in taking their chances, given their unbeaten streak. But Rochford of all people understands the challenge that lays ahead and is even optimistic about it.
“We really look forward to going to Croke Park each and every time we get the opportunity,” he said. “It is a massive challenge ... but it is one we are positive about, and we will look forward to it.”
There is a certain validity in the theory that to be a good manager, you must have a slightly pessimistic approach to your own work. It could well be the best method of seeing consistent improvement.
It was difficult to garnish how much of an improvement Mayo made in their performance last Saturday given the poor showing of the Rossies last Saturday evening. But who better to judge than Rochford?
“Reasonable improvement, but still plenty to work on,” he told the written press after Mayo’s facile victory at MacHale Park. “We kicked 15 wides they [stats people] are after telling me. I would have probably thought for the vast majority of the 35 minutes of the first half we played well. In the second half we were coming in spurts, we would drive on with maybe two scores, but we let Roscommon back with a score. I’d like us to be little bit more consistent in that aspect, but you know, over the course of the 70 minutes we got 20 scores and ... 15 wides. We obviously retained a good amount of ball, so we’re certainly on a positive trend.”
Another man who saw a positive trend in MacHale Park last Saturday was Mayo selector, Donie Buckley. The Kerry native was as animated as you would ever see any of the Mayo management team watching the game from just beneath the press-box during the second half – taking notable pleasure in Mayo’s tackling.
But as impressive as the tackling was at times, Roscommon still managed to create inroads in the defensive line and only for the exploits of David Clarke, who knows who the result may have finished? Although Rochford says it wasn’t necessarily a worry, it is something that they will look to improve.
“When you are competing against Division 1 team you are going to concede chances,” he admitted. “If you review all the games over the weekend, teams will cough up chances. We created plenty ourselves ... But yes, it is something that we will be working on. I wouldn’t say it is an issue, you have to remember that we are playing against a good team and there are a lot of good creative forwards there.”