Evan Sweeney’s point five minutes into injury time last Saturday evening in Austin Stacks Park, Tralee, broke Mayo hearts in the first round of the Christy Ring Cup. The point saw Kerry slip by Mayo on a scoreline of 3-11 to 1-16 and send Mayo into a losers play-off with Westmeath this weekend. “It was heartbreaking,” according to Mayo manager Martin Brennan when he spoke to the Mayo Advertiser earlier this week. The Westport man has been guiding Mayo for the past two years alongside Galway legend Pete Finnerty, and before the game last weekend was full of confidence of taking Mayo that one step further this year after losing in the Christy Ring Cup semi-final last season. But no, it’s do or die for Brennan’s boys if they lose on Saturday against a Westmeath side which has won two of the last three Christy Ring Cup titles. It’s a relegation play-off and trying to avoid getting bumped down to the Nicky Rackard Cup for next season that they face.
The ticking clock and upping the performance
The only complaint that Brennan had about the defeat was to do with the time keeping. “The fourth official put up that there would be three minutes’ injury time and the referee had played five when they got their winner but that’s ancient history now.” While the manner of losing the game so deep into additional time was upsetting, Brennan admitted that it wasn’t the only reason his side failed to make the grade in Kerry. “We have to see a good 10 to 15 per cent improvement in a number of areas this weekend, there were a number of positions where we just weren’t up to the cut, and that is something that we are going to have to address this weekend if we are going to have any chance of seeing off Westmeath in Crossmolina.”
Westmeath which has won two of the last three Christy Ring Cup titles will be a serious obstacle for Mayo to overcome if they are going to progress to the latter stages of the competition to try and go better than last year’s semi-final place. Westmeath lost out to Kildare last weekend and will be hurting as much as Mayo on Saturday, but Brennan knows that his side will have no fear of the midlanders. “They are a good side, no doubt about that at all, they have plenty of quality, but it’s now about us going out there and doing our stuff. We’ve beaten them twice in the league in the last few years so we know we can beat them, and our lads will have no fear at all of them. There will be a few positional changes from the last day, with Keith [Higgins] probably moving to the midfield and one or two other swaps on the field, and there are a few lads who have been showing very well in training and who have done well coming on who are fighting hard for a spot in the side.”
Avoiding the trap door
Having gone for a long number of weeks without a competitive game after the league finished up, the competitive game last week has his side in good shape for this do or die battle according to Brennan. “We went a long time without a competitive fixture and that was Keith Higgins’ first game back for a long time, so the game has given us something to work off and the lads are up to speed with championship hurling. It’s up to all the lads and ourselves on the sideline to make sure we are looking forward to progressing in the competition rather than trying to fight it out to stay in second tier competition next season on Saturday.”
