Mayo hit the road in Oscar Traynor Cup

MAYO face a tough test on Sunday when they visit Eamonn Deacy Park in Galway city to take on the locals in the second round of the Oscar Traynor Cup.
Both sides won their opening games; Galway had a 2-0 win over Roscommon & District, while a Darren Browne penalty was enough for Mayo to see-off Sligo/Leitrim.
Manager Joe Kelly told The Mayo News that he was pleased with progress since the Sligo/Leitrim game, with a great commitment to training.
“We’ve had a good month again,” he explained. “We took the week off after Sligo and we got back into it with a game against the Galway Airtricity League, Under-19s. They are in the national final against Shamrock Rovers.
“We went up there expecting it could be a long night, but we were delighted to win it, 3-1. “We had a very different line-up to the Sligo game. We tried a few different things and they paid off. We won a lot of possession in the middle and we were clinical up top. We put away our chances. It was one of those nights when a lot of things worked well.”
Kelly praised the buy-in from the players.
“We have players travelling from Limerick, Galway and Dublin for our training sessions. And the commitment is just as good from all the players at the sessions.”
Mayo could be without Jack O’Connor and Ben Edeh — both starters against Sligo/Leitrim. Jordan Loftus, who missed the Sligo game, should be available and Celtic forward, Jason Hunt has joined the squad.
Hunt had an indifferent season. He lost his starting place on the Castlebar Celtic team through injury, and never looked fully match-fit when he returned, limiting him to cameos from the bench. He has returned to fitness now. There is no doubting his talent, and it’s good to see him in the squad, though he is unlikely to start on Sunday.
Given that the defensive unit performed so well against Sligo, it is unlikely Kelly will make any changes for the trip to Galway.
Oran Groarke will retain his place as the holding midfielder, given his man of the match performance in the last outing. Darren Browne should also start.
Cillian White, the Westport youngster, will put a lot of pressure on Dylan McKee for the other midfield place in Kelly’s preferred 4-3-3 formation. (A formation that can quickly adapt to 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, as necessitated by circumstances on the pitch on the day.)
It’s difficult to predict who will start up front. The trio could come from any combination drawn from seven players. Jamie Cawley missed the last one through injury; he could very well start wide on the left against Galway.
Will Kelly start Loftus and Benny Lavelle? Or will he opt for one of them through the middle, with wider players who can double as wingers who cut-in when necessary?
If he opts for one in the middle the obvious question is, which one? A telling signal might be that Loftus is named as vice-captain of the squad. If fit, his omission seems unlikely.
In such circumstances, Lavelle would very unlucky to be benched. O’Connor or Edeh, depending on injury-recovery progress, could fill the remaining berth.
If both are unavailable, and Kelly opts for one of the centre-strikers, the door might be open to Claremorris man, Rokus Mikuckis, or Ballina Town’s Oisin Tighe.
The selection situation will be much clearer after Wednesday night’s training session.
Kelly’s faith in younger players is admirable, and against Sligo/Leitrim they didn’t let him down. Whatever team he puts out, he will know that this is a stiff test.
But Sligo/Leitrim was a stiff test too, and Kelly got all the calls right to pass that one.

FIXTURE
Oscar Traynor Cup
Galway v Mayo
Sunday, October 29
Galway at 2pm