Where it all went wrong for Mayo against Galway

by Aiden Henry

So where did it go wrong for Mayo against Galway in yesterday's Connacht SFC final at Pearse Stadium?

The players will come in for a fair bit of stick for not pressing home their advantage when they had the greater share of possession.

However, it would be wrong to blame the players fully for this defeat.

I think the sideline played a part in this loss, not least in the substitutions they made in the third quarter.

There were just 10 minutes played in the second half when Fergal Boland was called ashore.

It was very hard to see what he had done wrong. He has been one of Mayo’s best players all year.

His general play, reading of the game and distribution didn’t seem any different on yesterday compared to previous games.

To compound matters, the substition of Aidan O’Shea in the 54th minute made little sense either.

The same thing was done to O’Shea against Roscommon, and we nearly paid the price for it then.

Yesterday the Breaffy man caused Galway all sorts of trouble and didn’t look any bit stressed or puffed out when called from the field of play.

We can be fairly certain that O’Shea’s substitution gave the Galway players a big boost.

You can just imagine what a boost it would have been to the Mayo players if the Galway sideline decided that Damien Comer had enough and took him off.

Moments after O’Shea’s substitution, Jordan Flynn was replaced as well. You could see why the Crossmolina man wasn’t very happy.

While on the subject of the Mayo sideline, it was a bold move by them to slot David McBrien at full-back to mark Comer.

It is widely felt that McBrien was going to be the man to fill the troublesome full-back position on the Mayo team.

However, up until yesterday, he operated in a lot of positions all year apart from full-back. That particular slot was filled by Rory Brickenden.

However, the Mayo management decided to play McBrien in the number three position for the first time this year.

To do this in such a huge game and to mark one of the best full-forwards in the game in Comer was unfair, and it backfired.

Just in case the Mayo management might think they are getting an unfair lash of the whip it is important to give credit where credit is due.

In this regard Kevin McStay and his backroom team came up trumps in putting Donnacha McHugh on the troublesome Galway captain, Sean Kelly.

McHugh won that head-to-head battle hands down.

With regard to the Mayo players, they mixed the good with the bad.

They dominated the possession in the opening half – and that was when playing into the wind.

They had something in the region of two-thirds of the possession yet, for all that, they went in just two points in front at the interval.

And it could have been worse had goalkeeper Colm Reape not produced a magnificent save in the 14th minute to deny Comer a goal.

In all, Mayo created 15 or 16 chances in the first half but only converted seven of them.

Of their seven points, Ryan O’Donoghue scored three (two frees and one mark) while they only scored four points from play, with Matthew Ruane, Fergal Boland, Donnacha McHugh and Tommy Conroy all on target.

Galway manager Padraic Joyce must have been very happy to see his team just two points in arrears at the break.

On the resumption, the Galway players – who likely got a roasting from their manager during the interval – came out with all guns blazing.

They quickly turned the two-point deficit into a one-point lead.

The Mayo players regrouped, however, and took control again.

They scored the next four points to lead by three with 15 minutes remaining.

One would have hoped that Mayo would have pushed on from there, but they didn’t.

It was as if they felt they had enough done.

But you never have enough done against Galway, and the Tribesmen came roaring back again.

However, when Matthew Ruane and Tommy Conroy put Mayo two clear as the game went into injury time, Mayo should have seen the game out.

Again they did not, and they paid the price for it.

It's a recurring theme that Mayo find it very difficult to put teams away when in control.

Sunday was another fine example.

So, having just missed out on the Connacht title, the next step is the group stages of the All-Ireland Championship.

Mayo will be in Group Two with Leinster winners (likely to be Dublin), Roscommon (whom they have already beaten in the Connacht campaign) and Cavan.

It is fair to say that Mayo should at least qualify as one of the three from this group.

The first game will be against Cavan in Hastings Insurance McHale Park, Castlebar, the weekend after next.

After that it's another trip to Roscommon for match number two, with the final group game against Dublin to be played at a neutral venue.

One would expect that the game against Dublin should decide who tops the table and advances straight into the All-Ireland quarterfinals.

Despite Sunday’s disappointing defeat against Galway, interesting times still lie ahead for Mayo.