NO SUBSTITUTE FOR SQUAD DEPTH Mayo subs watch on during the Mindspace Mayo Charity Challenge against Sligo back in January. Pic: Conor McKeown
Analysis
Edwin McGreal
MAYO will be just three weeks away from their Connacht SFC quarter-final clash with Roscommon next Sunday. It looks highly likely they will have a competitive game every weekend between now and then.
It is a sign of what’s to come. This will be a season like none we’ve ever seen before.
Teams are trying their best to prepare appropriately for the season ahead, but the reality is they are driving blind to a certain extent.
Until this season is over, people will not truly know how advantageous winning your province is; how important league form is in a condensed calendar; or if timing your run solely for the All-Ireland round-robin is more advantageous.
Because when you look at the calendar, there’s no doubt there’s potential for an awful lot of football in a short period of time.
From now until the All-Ireland final, Mayo could end up playing as many as 13 games in just 19 weeks — if they make it all the way.
Compare that to ten years ago when Mayo played just eight games in 24 weeks from Round 6 of the National League to the 2013 All-Ireland Final with Dublin.
So that brings up an awful lot of considerations.
When do you plan for heavy training loads? At what percentage of peak do you want (or need) to be at different stages in this season? How much importance do you place on winning your province, and therefore being a number one seed in the round-robin series that is the last 16 of the All-Ireland race?
Topping your group and avoiding the preliminary quarter-final gives you a two-week break from the round-robin to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
On the other side, stutter into the group, win just one game there, and you are probably in a preliminary quarter-final. Who knows what momentum you can build from there.
Mayo know all about this from Qualifiers experience.
Kevin McStay and his experienced backroom team will have looked at this deeply in planning their season and training loads. So will every other inter-county manager, many of whom have serious experience too. We’d love to know right now what their true plans are.
McStay is on record as saying he wants to enter the All-Ireland round-robin series as Connacht champions and attain number one seeding. We doubt Padraig Joyce or Davy Burke will be turning their nose up at a Connacht title either though.
The key question is: how absolute is that aim?
Do Mayo go all out, start their strongest XV every day in Connacht and hold back on any heavy training?
Or do they take a risk that they can tackle heavy training loads during the provincial championship window? It runs more of a risk of losing, but may have you better primed for the All-Ireland series. Losing in Connacht is not ideal but less fatal than ever.
Remember, Mayo will be in the All-Ireland series regardless of how they do in the province. Finish in the top four of Division 1 and they will be assured of a minimum third seeding.
It must be pointed out Kerry and Dublin can marry heavy training and provincial aspirations far easier given the relative weakness of their provinces. The top three teams in Division 1 are on the one side of the draw in Connacht!
The consideration of training loads can apply to the next two league games.
Indeed, it might have kicked in before the Roscommon game.
People have wondered will Mayo want to be in a league final.
As Stephen Drake said on The Mayo Football Podcast recently, messing with momentum is a very dangerous game. Mayo will not want to miss out on a league final just to give them a break before the Roscommon game.
But what their current position atop the league affords them is an opportunity to get some heavy training sessions done, knowing they are safe and hopeful they can still get results the next two weekends. Their position also allows them to rotate their squad too.
Only those with the internal knowledge of each team will know if they are where they need to be physically, right now. But we would be surprised if such an experienced management team and high calibre backroom team have let Mayo bolt too early.
Will this be the first GAA year of squad rotation?
THE point about rotating players is one made by Colm Boyle on The Mayo Football Podcast last weekend; that this could be the first year where teams rotate their starting team to rest players as opposed to just picking on form.
With three round-robin games in four weeks — followed by a potential preliminary quarter-final the week after the final round-robin and the week before the quarter finals — squad depth has never been more important.
Right now Mayo look like they have their deepest squad in years.
Twenty-eight players have featured so far in the National League while players with experience like Padraig O’Hora, Rob Hennelly, Michael Plunkett and Bryan Walsh have yet to return after injury setbacks. Injuries have also curtailed Frank Irwin and Mikey Murray, both of whom have plenty to offer too.
We tried some weeks ago to pick the Mayo championship team. Suffice to say, we would be making some changes were we afforded the same opportunity now.
Could Kevin McStay tell you his starting championship team right now?
Perhaps not. Which is no bad thing. Indeed, it might be a case of horses for courses.
Look at the options for the full-forward line, for instance. Try to pick three from Ryan O’Donoghue, Aidan O’Shea, Tommy Conroy, Cillian O’Connor and James Carr.
Not simple.
Form, opposition, and the diary can all be factors. McStay could start a full-forward line of O’Donoghue, O’Shea and Carr one day and, if there’s another game seven days later, it might be prudent to bring in Conroy and O’Connor for them. It would have been sacrilege to even suggest leaving the latter duo off two years ago.
But Mayo are in rude health when it comes to squad depth.
Because whatever about how teams approach their league and provinces, once it moves to the round-robin stages, having that squad depth is undoubtedly going to be a huge factor.
