Horan relishing chance to take on champions

MAYO manager James Horan is relishing the prospect of next Sunday’s clash with Cork and is calling on his squad to go “toe-to-toe” with the All-Ireland champions.

“This is a great opportunity for us,” he said of the quarter-final draw. “It’s a great chance for us to see where we’re at, to see if there is a gap between us and the likes of Cork.

“It’s a huge chance, a huge game, and we’re all really looking forward to it.

“It’s not often you get a chance like this to get a real crack at one of the big guns at this stage of the season.

“We intend to meet them head on and go toe-to-toe with them.

“This group of Mayo players want to do well in every single game and that’s the attitude we’ll be bringing into next weekend too.”

Horan, in his first year in charge, was in Croke Park last weekend to see Conor Counihan’s side beat Down in their round four qualifier.

“Cork were strong and pacy,” he admitted. “It’s a very hard game to interpret though. Down were very open defensively, they didn’t really perform, and I’m sure they’re disappointed with how they played.

“Cork dominated around the middle and have some dangerous forwards. But I think we’ve done okay around the middle and have some good forwards too.”

The Connacht champions have been rated as 5/1 outsiders to beat Cork for the first time in the championship for 95 years next weekend.

Mayo were due to announce the team for Sunday’s game (throw-in 4pm) to the players after training last night. That selection is expected to be released this afternoon.

Horan admitted that “one or two tough calls” will have to be made.

Ger Cafferkey and Enda Varley reportedly were moving well in last weekend’s training game in Castlebar and are believed to be pushing Alan Feeney and Jason Doherty respectively for inclusion. The game looks like it will come too soon for Ronan McGarrity, who is still not fully fit, according to Horan, as he continues his recovery from an Achilles injury.

Meanwhile, Horan has also rubbished some of the comments made by broadcast analysts in the aftermath of Mayo’s Connacht final win in trying conditions in Hyde Park.

Most notably, on RTÉ’s The Sunday Game, analyst Pat Spillane opined that if Connacht football was examined by Moody’s, it would acquire ‘junk’ status — but Horan wore a grin when asked about the comments.

“I find it interesting. It is a bit of comedy to be honest,” he said. “Does anyone really take a lot of what is said seriously? Do the guys who say that stuff take it seriously? You’d wonder sometimes. I’d challenge some of the guys saying stuff like that — did they see Keith Higgins chipping up the ball going back towards his own goal? Did they see the point Andy Moran scored against a 55km breeze?

“I’d like to get them to get other players from other provinces to come down and do their stuff on a day like that. It is all relative, it is what you choose to listen to and how you choose to interpret it. To be honest with you, some of it is a laugh … it is entertaining, that is how I describe it.”