A canter for Mayo but September is the real target
The big difference now though, is that Mayo are utterly dominant. A first four in a row of Connacht titles since 1951, and Galway without a title since 2008.
However, this provincial win will lose its gloss quickly in Mayo if they cannot add another trophy by late September.
Right now, they are the second or third best team in Ireland over the past two or three seasons and were far superior than Galway in this tie, well worth their seven-point victory.
Their win was built on the foundations of a dynamic half-back line with Lee Keegan, right, and Colm Boyle imperious. A dominant midfield that left Fiontán Ó Curraoin and Tom Flynn well beaten.
Aidan O’Shea added serious power and won a lot of kick-outs from number 11. Kevin McLoughlin was his usual busy self, picking up breaks, while Cillian O’Connor was majestic at corner-forward.
The Ballintubber man is the real go-to player now in the Mayo forward division, and if a team stops him, where will Mayo turn?
I don’t think Galway genuinely challenged Mayo in this tie. I wonder did they really believe they could win the game? If they did, they only showed it in sporadic patches.
The fact Galway only won two out of their own 15 kick-outs in the first half highlighted one of their major problems.
The other was their shooting. Danny Cummins and Eddie Hoare shot three really poor wides in the first half. Each wide ripped away at Galway’s already fragile confidence.
Managing Mayo’s half-back line broke them. Lee Keegan did as he wished and Colm Boyle put down a serious marker early on, buckling Galway’s Damien Comer with a shoulder. The wing-forward had to leave the field well before half-time.
That difference in physical development, and strength and conditioning was evident and in all close combat. It was almost inevitable that a Mayo man came out with the ball.
When you are being totally out-muscled, it is a tough station.
Galway’s defending was calamitous at times and even when they had lots of bodies behind the ball, Mayo still bored holes and were able to get in for scores.
Galway’s corner backs were at sea, although the quality of ball coming in left them in dire straits, and they were abandoned at times by their half-back line.
Aonghus Tierney was taken off and Donal O’Neill had a torrid time on O’Connor, who shot eight points (five frees), and set up two goals using his great peripheral vision.
Very few other football teams would have had to leave their corner- back getting such a real skinning off a corner-forward — Cork readers might not agree — but Galway have very little options off the bench defensively, especially with Johnny Duane and Gary Sice currently not on the panel.
The lack of strength in depth for defenders on Galway’s bench was highlighted by the fact that Daithí Burke, who was centre-back with the hurlers last weekend, was brought on yesterday despite only joining the football panel this week.
How was he expected to be up to the pitch of play? It could have been worse for Galway had Lee Keegan been more accurate. He could have hit a hat-trick yesterday and goaled after a sublime pass from O’Connor after 23 minutes to put Mayo 1-6 to 0-2 clear. Suddenly a repeat of last year, when Mayo won by 16 points, looked likely.
Galway hit a purple patch after the break and three quick points gave them some hope, however it was a false dawn and with Seamus O’Shea and Jason Doherty ploughing into the game, Mayo took complete control. To be honest, it looked like Mayo never really went into top gear.
A concern for Mayo though is this: Are they any better than last year? Are they any better equipped to beat the likes of Dublin? Put simply, no.
They are hugely dependent on Cillian O’Connor up front and neither Andy Moran or Alan Dillon look like they have a full game in them at Croke Park, nor do they look like they have the pace in their legs for the really top level now.
Michael Conroy and Alan Freeman came on for them but are either of them the solution? They could reach the semi-finals or even final again, however I don’t see them winning Sam.
That ship has sailed.
What of Galway? The gap has narrowed from last year in Connacht, however Alan Mulholland’s team are still not a top-12 team and based on the scoreline from O’Moore Park, Tipperary might do the same job on Galway as their hurlers did.
One bright spot is that in Shane Walsh, they have a very talented forward, and even a player of Keith Higgins calibre looked uncomfortable when facing him one on one.
Sixteen points would win a lot of games, however, Galway’s porous full-back line won’t be rectified in two weeks and in Conor Sweeney, Barry Grogan and Michael Quinlivan, Tipperary boss Peter Creedon will believe they have the full-forward line to make hay in there.
