Mayo need to grasp opportunity to relaunch campaign with both hands
by John Melvin
THE break - it will be five weeks between Mayo’s embarrassing defeat against Roscommon and their meeting with Monaghan next Sunday – could resuscitate their championship ambitions for 2026.
Reaction, in general, has been pretty scathing.
Not just over the heavy defeat, nor that it was their great rivals Roscommon who had scuppered Andy Moran's hope of denying Galway their five-in-a-row Connaught titles and Mayo’s first since 2021, but because Mayo energy levels and renowned battling qualities had dropped to an alarmingly low just as a steady trickle of supporters made their way from the grounds with 15 minutes ahead of the hooter.
The dogs on the street know that Moran and his backroom team, along with the Mayo panel, have much homework and studying to do ahead of their next championship examination, which takes them to Clones.
It would be very convenient to put the 'Roscommon bury Mayo' report into the ‘best forgotten’ file in the Mayo GAA obituaries archives and take the view that Mayo need to just move on from what was really an aberration against Roscommon at MacHale Park.
However, there are times when what happens in the past needs to be analysed and explained if the future is to provide any hope for a team that seems insecure and uncertain and, sadly, that 10-point defeat only served to expose the problems that have arisen - not just against Roscommon - but during the league when they struggled against Donegal and Kerry in particular.
The league doesn’t matter. Well, not when you don’t win it, but it is the only competition for managers to assess players - old and new - and assemble a panel which the manager feels will - over time (and I do think a four-year plan should be the minimum) - make a serious bid for an All-Ireland title.
Of course, I expect Mayo will bounce back against Monaghan.
It is crucial that they do as only a performance which produces a different attitude in terms of hunger and desire will convince Mayo supporters that the right man was chosen to lead the team when Andy Moran was appointed as manager.
Moran is, after all, only in his first year in the job but it has been a significant setback having targeted a Connacht title as the platform to launch a good run in the All-Ireland series, but that defeat to the Rossies has led to a re-evaluation from a Mayo perspective.
Roscommon’s subsequent dethroning of defending champions Galway now puts Mayo in third place in the Connacht ratings and that drop in status is further reflected in the bookies (Paddy Powers’ prices at the time of writing) where they were priced at 30/1 for the All-Ireland title, Galway (12/1) Roscommon (16/1), Kerry favourites at 17/10, Donegal 9/2, Armagh 6/1, Dublin 10/1.
The problem with taking over the post as manager of a Mayo senior team is that patience is not one of the conditions that the new manager is allowed the luxury of.
Mayo supporters tend to look for instant success and that to some extent is understandable given the 75-year gap since they won their last All-Ireland, only to be ridiculed for decades under the banner of Mayo God Help Us, which, thank God, has been thrown into the trash bin as the county slowly but surely became a contender thanks to managers such as the late John O’Mahony, John Maughan, James Horan and Stephen Rochford.
One of Mayo’s biggest problems over the years, and especially on the odd occasion they got to Croke Park before they were regularly competing for All-Ireland finals or semi-finals, was the forward division which let us down more often than not.
That has all changed and Moran deserves credit for getting some new and exciting forwards on board, and we did see some excellent two-point scoring during the league with Mayo playing a more expansive and attractive attacking game for a change.
But the big challenge now for Mayo ahead of the Monaghan game is from the 50-yard line back, and while the defence was badly exposed against Roscommon, the lack of power around the middle where Mayo were cleaned out had a huge impact on the half-back and full-back lines, while the contribution of the goalkeeper - whoever it is to going be - is now more than ever key for so many teams under the new rules which makes possession of the ball so critical and kickouts crucial.
Andy Moran and his backroom team have been allotted more than enough time to rectify at least some of the problems that were so evident in that semi-final defeat but these issues won’t be sorted overnight and the best we can hope for is a big improvement in tackling, contesting dirty ball around the middle, passing and closing down - critical areas Mayo need to be studying before they face what is likely to be a serious exam against a Monaghan team who had so many of the qualities in their big comeback-win over Derry which were sorely lacking from Mayo, who just rolled over against Roscommon and now need to redeem themselves.
We know they are way better than what was reflected in that performance, but we just need more proof.
* The Monaghan v Mayo clash in the All-Ireland SFC series will be broadcast live on RTÉ Two.