There's no more room for error for the Mayo seniors of 2016, after five successive Connacht titles, rather than looking forward to a Sunday afternoon showdown for the Nestor Cup, they are back on the chicken and chips circuit of the qualifiers for the first time in six years looking to rebuild their fortunes on the backstreets of the championship. The first step in moving from those backstreets to the main streets is tomorrow afternoon when they host a dangerous visitor from Ulster at 3.30pm
Mayo haven't been a side who've embraced the qualifiers that well in the past, with the low point coming in their last qualifier outing in Longford in 2010. But that's ancient history and this group of Mayo players have delivered many great days since then and have always come back looking for and we'll be expecting something similar tomorrow afternoon.
Stephen Rochford is expected to name his team after training tonight, but with Tom Parsons following Jason Gibbons onto the injury table in recent times, he will be without the midfield pairing that he started their championship opener with against Galway three weeks ago. Seamus O'Shea came in for Gibbons in that game after he got injured, but who will partner him in the middle third is the big question. His little brother Aidan could drop back from the forward unit or Castlebar Mitchels Barry Moran could be inline to make a return to Mayo colours. Both men have played with each other through the years and having a pair that already have an understanding of working together is always an advantage. All Ireland u21 winning captain Stephen Coen plays there for his club as does 2008 All Ireland minor final captain Shane Nally, who had an impressive league run in the side during the spring. There's also the option of Alan Freeman or Donal Vaughan, but both men could be uitilised elsewhere on the field.
Having not started the Galway game, the current Young Footballer of the Year, Diarmuid O'Connor should come back into the fray, having come through a club championship game with Ballintubber since the Galway game. Apart from who'll make up the starting 15 for this game, most attention will be on how Mayo approach the game tactically on Saturday. There was plenty of criticism for Stephen Rochford for employing Kevin McLoughlin as a sweeper, but there was sound reasons for trying out the Knockmore man in that role. Mayo have conceeded goals in big games, that they might have avoided and while McLoughlin back there might seem like a waste of his abilities else where on the field, if they nailed the role down, McLoughlin's swift feet and foot passing ability could be the launch pad to quick counter attacks.
Keith Higgins was deployed in a attacking role and the Ballyhaunis man has no doubt the ability to play that role very well, but with Ger Cafferkey out long term, his experience in the back six is something that Mayo will need if they are to go on a run in the qualifiers. There is plenty to work on in the defence for Mayo but it was up front that misfired badly against Galway, hitting 13 wides over the 70 minutes, ten of them in the first half and going 40 minutes without a score. That is where the big improvement needs to be seen tomorrow. Mayo will need Cillian O'Connor to do what he does best, but they will also need the rest of the forward unit to chip alongside him. Andy Moran put his hand up for a more prominent role with a big total of 3-7 in the club championship a fortnight ago, but the likes of Jason Doherty, Evan Regan and Aidan O'Shea will be needed to step up here.
Fermanagh are a good side, but they were very dissapointing against Donegal in the Ulster quarter-final earlier this summer and while they held their own in division two of the league this year, they have seen off both Antrim in Ulster and Wexford in the qualifiers so far this year in the championship, both of whom are division four sides, and with the greatest respect well off the pace Mayo will expect to set. In the league they picked up wins over Meath and Laois, two sides who this summer were dispatched by Dublin from the Leinsiter championship with out much fuss at all, so if Mayo are going to have a say in this years championship they will want to lay down a serious marker on Saturday afternoon.
