SAME OLD FLAWS MEAN MAYO ARE GOING NOWHERE
Rochford’s team are now simply playing for time, not Sam Maguire
If that was Dublin we were playing in 2014, we were road kill at that stage, but with Mayo you always have a chance
THE result might have been different last weekend, but the narrative was pretty much the same.
Mayo travel down to Limerick to meet a team from the deep south, take a firm grip on the game and then let it all go.
There was 20 minutes gone when I came off the bench against them in 2014 and we were seven down. If that was Dublin we were playing, we were road kill at that stage but with Mayo you always have a chance.
For pity’s sake, the only reason we were in Limerick that evening in the first instance was because Mayo the previous Sunday could not see out perhaps the finest half of football they ever played in Croke Park, and allowed us to thieve a draw from the jaws of defeat.
It is a recurring theme; remember that moment Lee Keegan undercooked his kick in the 2015 All-Ireland semi-final replay against Dublin which would have put them five up?
Did not the whole world think as one in that moment that they would not pay for it?
That was partly because it was Dublin but it was mainly because it was Mayo.
Champions are ruthless in that situation; they move in to kill you when you are on your knees rather than extending a friendly arm to leverage you back up.
That is why watching last Saturday I was left in no doubt that this Mayo team is now playing for time and not for the Sam Maguire.
Just like they were against us, they led Cork by seven points only this time deeper into the game and still they could not hang in and close it out.
I know there is an argument that winning tight games can steel a team and Mayo have certainly taken that theory to its limits with extratime wins over Derry and Cork, not forgetting the butchered Clare goal chance that could have done for them in between.
And it can be argued that they are still standing – in the main because Cork spurned a couple of gilt-edged goal chances – and now that they are set to hit Croke Park today we will see them in all their old pomp and glory.
That was the line that was always peddled about us, particularly in 2006 and 2009 when we came through the backdoor, with the suggestion that we struggled in the qualifiers and then just burst into life when we hit Croke Park.
It wasn’t really like that. We had only the one qualifier in 2006 against Longford when Kieran Donaghy went to the edge of the square and we all know how that panned out.
We did struggle in 2009 against Longford, Sligo and Antrim but there was also context there in that Jack O’Connor was virtually rebuilding the spine of our team in those games, so we could put a finger on our troubles.
There is no evidence of that happening with Mayo. In fact, it is the polar opposite. We are seeing the same players bail them out week in, week out, we are also seeing the same players who are underperforming week in, week out and, above all, we are seeing the same weaknesses crop up time and again.
It takes a lot of faith to believe that all that will come right just by moving to a stage which can be utterly unforgiving if you are not right and ready.
What has staggered this summer has been Stephen Rochford’s reluctance to take action.
Seamie O’Shea’s difficulties in the middle of the field have been there for all to see and yet he has been allowed to suffer to the point that you just know that secretly he must be feeling relief every time he gets the crooked finger.
Andy Moran is their most intuitive inside forward, yet he has never been on the field when it has mattered most this summer.
They have just about got away with that – although not so in the Connacht semi- final when Evan Regan’s two rushed shots kicked away the prospect of a replay – but it would redefine optimism if Mayo are to believe that they can win the All-Ireland by finishing the likes of Kerry and Dublin inside 50 minutes.
That is simply not going to happen and if Rochford believes that there is only 50 minutes in Andy Moran, well then they should be bringing him in after 20 minutes so that he is still around when their need is greatest.
Above all, though, it is their defence that gives the jitters.
You know that you are in bother when your goalkeeper is your player of the year contender and the reality is that David Clarke is seeing far too much action for his team’s own good.
There is a lack of energy about them as a group which means that teams are finding a lot of joy run-
ning at them, which the likes of Sean Powter and Ruari Deane exposed last weekend.
But that is only the half of it; they also cannot defend direct ball and are hopelessly vulnerable to aerial ball into their square - as evidenced by Mark Lynch’s goal at the death for Derry.
And if you can’t defend on the ground or in the air, well then your Championship life expectancy is hardly going to be as long as you wish it to be.
Stephen Rochford’s men will survive today, but that is not because they are in a better place than they were 12 months ago.
They will win because they have the hard-nosed experience that Roscommon simply don’t possess and, trust me, Croke Park can be a brutishly cruel place for an inexperienced team.
Roscommon have climbed their summit, planted their flag on Connacht and that warm sense of satisfaction will ultimately betray them when Mayo will ask the hard physical questions down the stretch today.
The likes of the inspiring Aidan O’Shea, Cillian O’Connor and Lee Keegan – even though the latter has still not found the Footballer of the Year form of last year – will see them home but that won’t be enough to take them any further.
We need to see today that they have addressed their chronic defensive issues, we most likely need to see a new more advanced role for Keith Higgins, a midfield foil for Tom Parsons who himself is now an injury doubt, and we need to see Moran on the field when blood needs to be drawn at the death.
In short, we need to see a lot happening to make us believe in them again.
And at the moment, it is hard to believe that we will.
I AM not sure if it was the sight of the ridiculous black card shown to Michael Murphy last weekend or the Donegal captain’s resignation in taking it that jarred most. I always felt that the black card served a purpose but its serial misapplication this summer has forced me to reconsider. And the broken look on Murphy’s (right) face, which was a mixture of disbelief and despair, should serve as the campaign poster for the push to consign the rule to the dustbin.