Mayo down but not out

FACES IN THE CROWD Mayo manager Kevin McStay, centre, with assistant manager Stephen Rochford, left, and selector Liam McHale on the sideline in front of a packed stand at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park on Sunday. Defeat against Roscommon means Mayo now won't play in the championship again until the weekend of May 20/21. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Roscommon defeat a setback but championship still wide open

We wrote in these pages last week that Mayo would not even be contemplating defeat against Roscommon but the harsh reality of championship football is that you get what you deserve, and Mayo got just that at a rain-sodden Hastings Insurance MacHale Park on Sunday.
Having basked in the glory of a National League Football title just seven days previously, Kevin McStay and his squad were very much brought back down to earth and can have very few complaints from the four-point defeat.
An abject first half display, where they failed completely to make use of a strong wind, allowed Roscommon to get their tails up and two goals from the Smith brothers, Enda and Donie before the break, allowed Davy Burke’s men to impose their defensive strategy in the second half.
Mayo were forced to line-out without the injured pair of David McBrien and James Carr and both were missed on the day, with Eoghan McLaughlin and Tommy Conroy both starting, and thus limiting the impact of the Mayo bench.
Mayo did try very hard during the second half to bridge the gap but they could not get on level terms and Roscommon, to their credit, kicked some fine scores down the stretch to see out the victory and claim a famous win in Castlebar.
Remarkably, this is the third time this century that Roscommon have beaten Mayo after they were crowned league champions (2001, 2019 and 2023) and it is they who now prepare for a big semi-final clash with Galway on April 23.
Mayo must now dust themselves down and regroup. They will be hugely disappointed to be out of the running for the Nestor Cup but the format of this year’s championship means they are still very much in the running and the bookies still make them fourth favourites to win Sam Maguire behind just Kerry, Dublin and Galway.
Six-week break
Having had a arduous league campaign, a lot of the players will likely enjoy the six-week break they now have before entering the new round robin system on the weekend of May 20 and 21.
McStay and his players will have met probably four times a week since January but they now will take a complete week off before getting back together next week and plotting a course ahead for their re-entry into the championship.
Hopefully, injuries to the aforementioned McBrien and Carr, and the likes of Enda Hession and Michael Plunkett, will have cleared up by then and McStay will look forward to choosing from a near fully fit panel by mid-May.
Being third seed in the round robin will mean there is a distinct possibility that Mayo could end up in a strong group, but with three teams to advance to the preliminary quarter-finals, it’s impossible to see a scenario where Mayo will not be in the last twelve teams competing for the All-Ireland title.
It was also a hugely memorable week for New York in the Connacht Championship with their dramatic victory over Leitrim in a penalty shoot-out.
They will now make the journey to Markievicz Park to play Sligo in the other semi-final in a Connacht Championship that has already thrown up plenty of talking points.