A new year challenge for Kelly’s crew

THERE’S a good chance Mayo-manager, Joe Kelly doesn’t like yellow wind warnings. Met Eireann’s advice resulted in the final round of the provincial series of Oscar Traynor Cup games being postponed, in early December. He had his squad match-ready. They had momentum after thrashing Galway. Ben Edeh was on fire. The defence was water-tight to submarine standard. Now he has to get the jump-leads out again.

On Sunday, Roscommon bring their troops to Solar 21 Park. A win or a draw will confirm Mayo as division champions. That’ll get them a home-draw in the next round, on January 28th. They’ll be given a memento – The Oscar Traynor Provincial Cup. Medals will be hung around the players’ necks. Kelly, however, will have his eye on a bigger prize.

A lot has happened since the original December date. Ioseph O’Reilly – who has been magnificent in defence – and Orla Mc Loughlin have got married. (Congratulations Ioseph and Orla.) Santa did his annual Christmas dash. Turkeys faced their hottest day in twelve months. A new year has been welcomed, and, the old one, discretely ushered out through the back door.

And, critically, there have been no matches.

No matches brings the good news of no fresh injuries, but it also takes the edge off player and team sharpness. The challenge for Kelly and his backroom team now is, to get his squad up to the required level, in the absence of competitive football. Hardly ideal. 

Joe Kelly will want to win the match. He will want Mayo to top the group and drive on. This match won’t be about Roscommon. It will be about Mayo.

Kelly will make some changes from the eleven that did so well in Galway. He will probably rest one or two, and, in the process, have a look at others. He won’t make wholesale changes; not wanting to disrupt the team unit.

Celtic stopper Stefan Hestor is likely to get a start. Ballina Town’s, Andrew Shally, is back to full fitness and will present Kelly with a decision to make, for the left back spot. In ordinary circumstances, Kelly might have opted to give Harrison Quinn another run. On Sunday, he may prefer to give game-time to the returning Shally.

Up the field, Jordan Loftus and Benny Lavelle, have not regained full-fitness. Rafael Cretaro joined the squad after the Galway game. He is almost certain to see game time on Sunday.

The Mayo League did a good job promoting the postponed game. Mention of the tie popped up everywhere on social media. It is a shame the game didn’t go ahead, to see how effective the campaign would have been. Either way, that’s over now, and they will need to do the same again for this one. Clubs and players have a role to play too. Since football is largely a participative sport in Mayo, if the players and officials of the league clubs, don’t come out to support the county team, and promote the fixture in their area, the attendance will be small.

This is a good honest Mayo team, deserving of support.

Likely starting eleven: Stefan Hestor, Cillian McGlade, Owen McNamara, Cillian Redmond, Harrison Quinn; Oran Groarke, Darren Browne, Cillian White; Ben Edeh, Adam Nugent, Jamie Cawley.

Mayo take on Roscommon in the Oscar Traynor Cup on Sunday January 14, at Solar 21 Park in Castlebar. Kick off is at 1pm.