Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Audacious Mayo took gamesmanship to new heights

Éamonn Fitzmaurice, the former Kerry manager, has addressed his relationship and rivalry with Mayo in the print edition of Saturday’s Examiner Sport - and it makes for intriguing reading.

Fitzmaurice believes Mayo get over-confident too easily, but he has respect for their game smarts in recent seasons - and their gamesmanship, which he claims is on a “different level.”

He writes that Mayo’s gamesmanship has “developed over time, but is now of a high order.

“It manifested itself most famously in the All-Ireland final of 2017 when Lee Keegan launched his GPS unit at the ball as Dean Rock addressed the free-kick to win the match. To have the creativity and nous to even think of that was remarkable.

“The checking off the ball, their game management late in games, the claustrophobic marking of key opposition players, the tactical use of the Maor Fóirne and the cynical exploitation of the head injury rule when ahead in games were further indicators of this gamesmanship, as they pushed everyone and everything in their desperation to get to the promised land.”

He adds: “They love their football and their passion is unquestioned, but they can get overconfident very easily and with little encouragement or hard evidence. Not a nasty overconfidence, more an innocent one. Coming from Kerry, where the opposite is the case, I always found it intriguing.”

Read Fitzmaurice’s revealing insights into Mayo ahead of their All-Ireland qualifier against Armagh in the print edition of Saturday’s Irish Examiner