Impressive Mayo show no mercy

Donegal 0-11 Mayo 2-13: The perception that Donegal’s powers are on the decline will skew the prism through which this game is viewed, but Mayo’s All-Ireland quarter-final victory on Saturday evening owed as much to their own strengths as to the weaknesses of others.

Then again, such second-guessing of their worth is nothing new. That odyssey to bridge the gap with 1951 has always left the majority somewhat suspicious of Mayo’s abilities, especially in high summer, and there has been no change in that regard in the course of this most recent quest.

Galway were game but green, Sligo were naïve to a painful degree and then there was Donegal. Though considered to be one of the Big Four, Rory Gallagher’s men clocked in at the weekend with even more questions hanging over them than Mayo.