BRACED FORE BACKLASH Mayo manager Stephen Rochford on the challenge of beating Cork
Mike Finnerty
ALL the pundits, analysts and bookmakers may be predicting a comfortable win for Mayo against Cork in the All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers next Saturday, but Stephen Rochford is not buying into the hype.
Speaking to The Mayo News last night (Monday), the Mayo manager recalled Cork’s comprehensive win over his team in the National League last year and he dismissed talk of the Rebels being a beaten docket after their recent Munster final hammering.
“We came back to Mayo with our tails between our legs after that [league] game,” he recalled. “And a lot of the same guys will be involved next weekend too.
“We know Cork is a strong GAA county, a strong football county, and they will be keen to put in a big performance after what happened against Kerry. “So we’re expecting a backlash from them, and we’ll be looking to meet that head-on.”
Rochford reported a clean bill of health for next Saturday evening’s Round 4A game with Tom Parsons fully recovered from the flu bug that kept him out of the win over Clare on Saturday week last.
Barry Moran, who has been sidelined with an Achilles injury since late last year, also managed to play 45 minutes for Castlebar Mitchels in a senior league match against Davitts last weekend.
“It was important for Barry and it was important for us,” admitted Rochford. “He’s been working away in the background, trying to get himself back to fitness.
“The next step will be to get him up to match fitness so the longer we’re in the championship, the better it will be for him.”
Donie Newcombe also played for three-quarters of that game while Rob Hennelly and Conor O’Shea, who has recovered from his shoulder injury, lined out for Breaffy in the Mayo Senior League on Saturday week last.
Mayo braced for ‘backlash’ from Cork
