Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Bit by bit, Mayo are edging closer to the winning post
Mayo’s Matthew Ruane celebrates with Jordan Flynn. Picture: James Crombie
The Connacht final win for Mayo over Galway in Pearse Stadium yesterday was a quintessential winter football spectacle.
There were lots of mistakes, counter-balanced by the occasional sprinkling of brilliance. Neither team will be delighted with their performance and, in general, it disappointed as a match, never really taking off. The final probably needed a goal to really ignite it as a contest but none of this will bother Mayo as they won their first Connacht championship since 2015. They were the better team throughout and should have been more comfortable than they were at the death.
Similar to a week previously against Roscommon, Mayo never put Galway away and kept Pádraig Joyce's side in the game. In the end, Mayo were hanging on desperately to avoid the fate that befell Kerry last weekend. This will annoy James Horan as I am sure it is something they will have discussed in the lead into the game. They will be revisiting it again.
It required a last-ditch cynical foul from Eoghan McLoughlin at the death to keep their net intact and avoid extra time, or worse. The purists won’t be happy with the tackle but if I was in his position I would have done the exact same thing. McLoughlin was again excellent and a huge positive for the manager is the form of his young brigade as they continue to impress with Oisín Mullin, Matthew Ruane, Tommy Conroy, and Bryan Walsh also starring.
In the first half, Mayo mixed the good and the bad. Their work-rate and intensity were outstanding, as usual. They were tight and disciplined at the back and they forced turnovers all over the field. By the end of the game, they got 11 of their 14 points from turnovers. However, what will most disappoint the group is the number of wides they kicked and scoring chances they butchered.
Some of their decision-making, shot selection, and skill execution was well off. Of the 29 scoring chances, they created they only took 14. They will work on this over the next few weeks as they know well that won’t do against the best teams. Worryingly from James Horan’s perspective, this is becoming a pattern as it also happened against Roscommon and to a lesser extent against Leitrim.
I felt that the relocation of Aidan O'Shea to the edge of the square was helping but yesterday he moved out the field early. In the first half when playing with the breeze, I thought it made more sense for him to stay closer to goal.
Cillian O'Connor also moved out the field. They lost shape and as a result, lacked variety in attack and didn’t score enough. They did kick some fine long-distance scores with Patrick Durcan and Diarmuid O'Connor in particular kicking great scores. In the second half, they moved back to their natural game as they ran the ball into the wind and it appeared to suit them more. I still feel that O'Connor and O'Shea close to goal gives them a better chance of having variety in their attack which will be needed as they move through the last rounds of the championship.
Pádraig Joyce will be disappointed with his first season in charge. They were flying high when Covid struck but since the resumption of action, they have never got going. The Sligo situation and Damien Comer’s injury didn’t help their preparation. They looked rusty for large parts of the game yesterday, particularly early on. A game would have benefitted them and allowed them iron out some of the kinks.
Even from a management perspective, games sharpen the mind and decision making on the line. Shane Walsh, Paul Conroy, and Seán Kelly played well but too many of their colleagues looked under-cooked.
Walsh will rue the two frees he missed late on, even if they were not the easiest of kicks. Even if he had converted one of them he might have taken on the final sideline kick which I feel was on for him with the way the wind was blowing.
Mayo now have three weeks to ready themselves for an All-Ireland semi-final and a tilt once more at Sam. If they can sort out their wastefulness and tendency to be one-dimensional in the final third they can force themselves into the conversation.
For too long the identity of this Mayo team has been around pushing Dublin close.
Importantly, they are back getting silverware on the table, winning the league last year, and a Connacht title this year.
Bit by bit, they are building a reputation of winners.
Sports analysis, particularly of individuals - be they players or managers - is often based around perception. This perception is generally shaped by hindsight.
The Latin expression post hoc, ergo propter hoc is apt, meaning after this, therefore because of this. It can be a logical fallacy and it is important to weigh up the body of work rather than isolated results, and in particular the final result.
When evaluating a manager I feel that the following parameters should form the basis of the analysis: Where was the team when they started out? What was the standard and profile of the players that worked under them during the reign? What did they win? And finally where is the group as the manager departs?
When Mickey Harte took over as Tyrone manager in November 2002 they had never won an All Ireland, had won a single National League, and 11 Ulster titles in the previous 118 years. They had just lost to Sligo in that year's All-Ireland qualifiers.
There was no sense that they were on the verge of something huge and that by the time Harte finished they would have won three All Irelands, another National League and added six Ulster titles.
Harte had phenomenal success in the early part of his reign when Tyrone won big with the bunch of players largely developed by him in the underage ranks. In those years he was an innovator with the Midas touch.
In the 2003 All-Ireland final he started Peter Canavan who had been struggling with an injury, took him off, and brought him on again before the end to guide the ship home.
For the 2005 final when we in Kerry were expecting Tyrone to play as defensive as they had been two years previously they came out and attacked winning a classic and in 2008 he quelled the 'twin towers' of Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Walsh by relocating Joe McMahon from the half-forward line to the full-back line to assist his brother Justin.
In the latter stages of his managerial career, I don’t think he used a system that maximised the potential of his players. He was conservative rather than creative.
While Tyrone survived long into the summer each year they never looked like winning the All-Ireland and even Ulster championships were thin on the ground. There are a lot of talented players in the current Tyrone squad that will benefit from a fresh approach.
That is his ultimate achievement. He is passing on the baton having left the jersey in a better place.
Donegal were hugely impressive on Saturday and while their sole focus is on next weekend's Ulster final, many of us neutrals will be anticipating a possible tussle between themselves and Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final.
I was holding judgment on them after the Tyrone game but I now subscribe to the consensus that they are in a very good place.
They have a lot of the components needed to challenge the best. They are stronger at the back than they have been for a while and look to be better equipped to survive in one-on-one contests. Stephen McMenamin will be a loss going forward if his injury is as serious as it looked when he pulled up after two minutes. Shaun Patton continues to deliver.
I still have question marks over his ability under a high ball but his restarts are a joy to behold.
They are maturing tactically and the high level of coaching that they are receiving is obvious. This was evident in the variety of their scores in particular.
They got scores from players breaking the defensive line with pace on the ball such as for Peadar Mogan’s goal and Eoghan Bán Gallagher's first-half point. They dominated the Armagh kickout in the first half and kicked great scores with Ryan McHugh nailing two via this method.
When Michael Murphy came out the field, either Hugh McFadden or Caolan McGonagle ghosted into the full-forward line and were available as a target man. Both of them, at different times, presented themselves as targets and accurate kick passes inside allowed them to take and convert offensive marks.
They have a better appreciation of space upfront than they had twelve months ago.
McGonagle got a great point towards the end of the first half where he maintained a wide position close to the sideline about 25 metres out and only attempted to cut off the inside player when the ball had been delivered inside, timing his run to perfection and kicking the point.
They have strong subs to bring in with Paddy McBrearty and Oisín Gallan in the game-changing category. Many of the young individuals are playing well with Jamie Brennan, Niall O'Donnell, Ciarán Thompson, Mogan, Michael Langan, and McGonagle standing out. The only little worry for them is that their main man, that they have leaned on for years appears to be going through a rare slump in form. Michael Murphy is still working as hard as ever but he isn’t as sharp as usual in possession.
While it is great for Donegal’s young guns to be driving the challenge so far, for them to win from now on they will need Murphy fully firing also.
