EDITORIAL: Mayo all set for another tilt at Sam Maguire

Mayo's loyal GAA following have had to wait a full six months without seeing their beloved Green and Red in action but that long wait will have truly whetted the appetite for the 2024 season, which gets up and running in earnest tomorrow afternoon in Pearse Stadium in Galway.

Kevin McStay's first year in charge was a real rollercoaster of emotion, starting out with a memorable win of the National Football League, only to be followed by a chastening championship defeat to the eventual All-Ireland winners Dublin.

At the moment, it is hard to get a handle on where Mayo stand in football's pecking order but McStay has been bullish in his dealing with the media in 2024, where he has stated that he still sees his team as real contenders.

The bookmakers have his team as fifth favourites for Sam Maguire, with Kerry and Dublin unsurprisingly at the head of the market, followed by Sunday's opposition Galway and Mickey Harte's Derry.

Mayo are a good deal shorter in the All-Ireland market than the likes of Tyrone, Armagh and Donegal so realistically they are expected to at least get to another All-Ireland quarter-final come next July.

Youth and experience

There are grounds for optimism ahead of the 2024. McStay can still call on the likes of seasoned veterans like Aidan O'Shea and Cillian O'Connor and during the 2023 campaign, a number of hugely talented footballers got a lot of game time that will stand them in good stead for this season.

Players like Sam Callinan, Donnacha McHugh and Jack Carney are bound to have improved with another pre-season under their belts and others like Rory Brickenden and Jordan Flynn are big, strong indivduals who a team can be built around.

Throw in the likes of fully fit forwards like Ryan O'Donoghue and Tommy Conroy and you can definitely see why we have the bones of fielding a very strong starting 15 for the beginning of the league campaign.

It really couldn't get much tougher though for Mayo at the start of the league, with Dublin coming to MacHale Park in round 2 and then a trip to Kerry in round 3. So it really is imperative that Mayo go to Salthill on Sunday after try to get their season off to the best possible start with a victory.

It's hard to judge where Galway are at with Padraic Joyce using the FBD league as a competition for his development squad. Joyce has now being Galway manager for a full five years and it may be the case that he sees this year as his final chance to win an All-Ireland title with what is undoubtedly a hugely talented squad of players at his disposal.

It may be only January, but Sunday's game will certainly have an edge to it with both teams wanting to lay down a marker for the season ahead. It promises to be another exciting season for Mayo's loyal band of followers and you can follow all the action here with us on www.mayonews.ie and of course in our print edition every Tuesday.