Ray Silke: 3 things we learned from Mayo v Galway

Mayo’s plan under Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly seems to be to get the ball to Aidan O’Shea and let him plough down the middle, until he is either fouled or lays off the ball.

It worked yesterday and the Breaffy man was like a big minor against slight U16 year olds. He did as he wished.

His bulk and power meant that every time he got the ball, there was consternation in the Galway defence and most of Cillian O’Connor’s frees came from fouls on O’Shea.

However, if Mayo are to go on and win a fifth Connacht title in a row, or importantly make the last four, or last two in the All-Ireland series, they will need a bit more sophistication in their attacking play. Andy Moran had hit two lovely points before he was removed with a knee injury. However players like Diarmuid O’Connor and Jason Doherty will have to add more from a scoring perspective. Their subs for the forwards are a tad underwhelming too.

The way to stop O’Shea is not to get involved in a physical contest. Harry and hassle him and crowd him out. The likes of Donegal’s two McGees, Paddy McGrath and Karl Lacey are experts at that and the system they play allows them to do so superbly.

Galway should have double- teamed O’Shea more often when he was in possession and he was just far too strong for Finian Hanley who had a torrid afternoon. The amount of fouls conceded by Hanley was phenomenal, many of them scoreable frees, and he was rightly sent off by Padraig Hughes (Armagh) in the end.

The reality is Galway have a major problem at full-back and no obvious solutions are to be seen in club football. Where do you go then?

Mayo wing-backs Lee Keegan and Colm Boyle have changed their game and do not attack as much as they did under James Horan. They have been instructed not to pass the half-back line, however, that does take away from Mayo’s fluidity and scoring options Will that tactic change as the season progresses?

2

Nobody’a looking out for No 1. He’s got to mind himself.

When you make a mistake out the field, at least someone behind you might save your blushes. However, when you have a blunder between the sticks, a green flag is the normal outcome.

The mistake by Galway goalkeeper Manus Breathnach that handed Mayo their decisive goal early in the second half was spectacular in its absurdity. It was a moment that defied logic. If you saw it at an U10 game, you’d feel sorry for the young lad or girl.

But at senior inter-county level? The ball broke off Aidan O’Shea after another barnstorming run and landed in front of the An Spideál keeper, who instead of picking it up and clearing his lines, ill-advisedly pulled on the ball and it slammed into the empty net off Finian Hanley.

If you were Kevin Walsh, the temptation not to select Breathnach again after such rush of blood would be very strong. Breathnach is the third goalkeeper that Galway have used in the Galway championship already. Tom Healy won an All-Ireland medal last March with Corofin, he played against New York and was the championship keeper last year against Kerry. Yet, he was not even a listed sub yesterday — he would be my choice for goalkeeper. Stability builds confidence. Especially in a goal.

3

Provincial championships are in trouble.

Don’t expect anything to change anytime soon, if at all, and with an attendance of 20,254 at Pearse Stadium, Connacht Council staff will say all is well with things.

However I don’t agree and this championship game never really took off. It was tame stuff, from a quality perspective. Most people I spoke to leaving the ground were deflated by the fare on offer.

The Leinster championship has been a dead duck for seven or eight years and the duopoly in Munster leaves a lot to be desired too. Clare back in 1992 were the last team to win a Munster championship, apart from Kerry or Cork?

If Mayo beat Roscommon or Sligo again in a few weeks time, they will have won five in a row in Connacht.

How attractive is that predictability for the paying punter? Change for change sake alone, makes no sense, however there is growing feeling that the provincial system is getting a bit stale.

The real action only starts now in August at the quarter-final stages and if that statement is true, what does it say about the provincial championships?

Are they just local jousts between the small fry, that are nice, but don’t mean that much before the big fish show their teeth later in the year?

Would the Mayo players swap the four Connacht medals they have won in the past four years for one All-Ireland? You bet they would.