It's time for the talking to be done on the pitch. Leaving MacHale Park after Mayo's lethargic performance against Galway, disillusioned and bewildered, I now find myself with a nervous excitement as Mayo have to navigate their way to Croke Park via the qualifier route. Who knows where it will take us. It's a new experience for some of the team and an experience some of the others have only been through once (the nightmare loss to Longford in 2010 ), which brings its own pressure, lose and you're out. Defeat will mean it will be the first time in six years Mayo won't be making the trip east to play in Croke Park. To coin a phrase from Sir Alex Ferguson “it's squeaky bum time”.
Fermanagh will pose a threat to a very fragile Mayo. I had a visit from a staunch Fermanagh follower who was quick to advise me that the result is not a foregone gone conclusion, and he was adamant had his team come out of the bowl first and the game was on in Brewster Park. Fermanagh would have been very difficult to beat, but that’s something we will never know. Fermanagh were extremely disappointing against Donegal in the Ulster championship, and faded away despite having a numerical advantage for the majority of the game after Neil McGee’s dismissal. If Mayo can learn anything from that game it is that if you wrap up Tomas Corrigan and Sean Quigley you beat Fermanagh, plain and simple.
Talking tactics
I will be very interested to see what tactics are put in place to quell their threat. Any Mayo defender worth their place on the team should relish such a challenge. If you can't handle Corrigan or Quigley in MacHale Park, how are you going to manage against Diarmuid Connolly or Bernard Brogan in Croke Park? I don't imagine Kevin McLoughlin will be sitting in front of his full back line on Saturday, as against Galway where for the majority he was stuck between a rock and a hard place and didn't seem to know when to leave his jurisdiction to meet the incoming attacker. I have no problem using Keith Higgins as a forward but not an orthodox full forward. I was baffled he spent most of the Galway game with his back to goal, he should be given a free role and simply told - go and influence the game. McLoughlin and Higgins are far more beneficial in the thick of the action around midfield and running at opponents, whereas McLoughlin's foot passing is key for Mayo's inside forwards. Do I expect Fermanagh to get a backlash for what happened against Galway? I certainly hope so.
Cillian O'Connor hasn't had the most pleasant experience as captain, black carded early against London and kicking six bad wides against Galway, taking on shots he shouldn't have. It's looks like he's trying too hard to lead by example. I'm sure we will see the old composed Cillian back against Fermanagh. We are all well aware now that Mayo went 30 minute of the first half and the entire second half against Galway without scoring from open play which is a damning statistic, some of the shooting was deplorable. I presume that has been rigorously worked on in training over the last few weeks. There is a simple rule in my book. If you're not an accurate shooter and there is a teammate in front of you who is more capable of scoring, make the hard yards and give him the ball to kick it over. It beggars belief how Mayo are priced at a measly 1/10 in the bookies after their showing against Galway. The handicap betting is set at -7 which is a big insult to Fermanagh. Stephen Rochford has some big calls to make with his team selection. Some big name players who are not performing as they should be, and maybe been left out, may reinvent and re energise themselves although I feel the casualty list forces his hand a little.
Time to be ruthless
Tom Parsons is the latest to be ruled out with a hamstring tear which occurred in the dying moments of an A versus B game last Friday. I was left out for a big game once, which we won, and the following three weeks at training I was like the Tasmanian Devil, and I got my place back for the game thereafter. Maybe Rochford should think like that. Jim Gavin doesn't care about leaving Connolly or Brogan or Paddy Andrews or Philly McMahon off his team, it keeps them focused, it keeps them hungry, it quenches any form of complacency. No Dublin player is guaranteed their place, it should be the same in Mayo; under perform and someone else will step in. This is the acid test for Rochford and his team. I expect Mayo to win this game, however it may not be as convincing as the bookies think.
Legendary Ladies
What a superb win for the Mayo ladies in the Connacht final. On top of winning the Connacht title they also prevented their bitter rivals winning five in a row. It was a great team performance with who else but Cora Staunton amassing another huge haul of 2-14, unbelievable Jeff.
