There might be some pre Christmas pleasantries before kick off in Terryland Park tonight, but once the whistle is blown it’s do or die for the Mayo League’s Oscar Traynor Cup team. Following on from their win over the Inishowen league in the opening round of the competition, progression to the knock out stages of the competition is all down to this game for both sides. A draw will do Mayo thanks to their superior goal difference, but that’s something Mayo manager Brendan O’Connor is not thinking about. “Yah, a draw will do us on Friday night, but we are not going to approach the game like that at all, we’re going out to win on Friday night. If you go looking for a draw at the start of a game you are just setting yourself up for a fall, if we get it all and good, but we are going out to win the game.”
Mayo’s preparations were hindered with the news that talismanic Westport United midfielder Danny Scahill will miss the game after picking up an injury. “Danny will be a big loss, we ruled him out of the game at training on Tuesday night. But we have plenty of other top class players who can slot in and do more than just a job on Friday night.”
With the sporadic nature of the competition and year round local and national competitions, getting a panel together to train can be difficult for teams in this competition as Kenny explains. “We had a hard session on Tuesday night and we had one the week before. Fitness is not a issue with the lads in the squad as they have been playing all year, it’s just trying to get them to gel into a cohesive unit and get them used to playing together as a team we have been working hard on.”
Last season Mayo picked up a 1-0 win over the Tribesmen in Milebush Park to advance to the knock out stages of the competition, where they eventually lost out to AUL Dublin in the semi-finals and a similar result to last year’s would suit Kenny in tonight’s game. “I wouldn’t say no to that at all. But we all know it’s going to be a tough task going up to Terryland and trying to get a win. Mayo don’t have a good record there, so it’s time we put it to right. But Galway will be no push overs whatsoever. They have players like Seamus Crowe and Ciaran Foley, guys who are top quality junior league players, and a number of them have played for Ireland at the junior level. But our lads are more than capable of taking them on and seeing them off over 90 minutes. We have just got to go out there and play the best kind of football we can.”
