There’s no rest for the Mayo hurlers as they go into their third league game in as many weeks on Sunday. While some managers would be complaining about too many games too soon, Martin Brennan is of a different mind set. “I’d nearly prefer it this way, it keeps everyone focused and the lads moving along nicely. If we didn’t have a game, I’d be looking for a challenge match against someone else and trying to get good standard to play against so it’s better to have competitive games like this.”
Last weekend Mayo made the long trip to Armagh and came home with the points from a strange kind of game, according to the Westport native. “It was a strange one all right, we burst out of the blocks and went 0-8 to 0-1 up after 15 minutes, and I could even feel myself relaxing too much a bit. Armagh came back at us and hit us for a lot of scores without us replying and ended up going in two points ahead of us at half time. But we were able to bring on Keith at half time and he steadied the ship and brought his influence on to the game and we managed to run out winners in the end.”
Brian Moran really came to the fore for Mayo last Sunday, something which Brennan was really pleased about. “Yeah he really stepped up to the plate and hit 10 points from frees, you can’t ask for much more. We gave him the responsibility and he replied very well.”
However the win did come with a cost, with Westport’s Eoin Madigan breaking a bone in his hand at the end of an eventful weekend for the NUIG student. “Yeah, Eoin broke a bone in his hand, he’ll be a massive loss to us.” Madigan was part of the NUIG panel that won the Fitzgibbon Cup last Saturday but opted to play for Mayo in the league game rather than take his place on the bench with the university. “He was with them on Friday and it was up to him if he came with us on Saturday or waited with them. He came with us, but NUIG went on and won and he’s got a Fitzgibbon medal in his back pocket which is a massive achievement for a young lad from Westport. You’re playing with guys who have McCarthy Cup medals already and will win more in the future, it’s as tough a competition around as you’ll find.”
National Hurling League
Mayo v Derry
March 14 in McHale Park
