Moran set to make sweeping Mayo changes for tricky clash in Clones

by Aiden Henry

MAYO senior football manager Andy Moran and his selectors are expected to ring the changes to their starting 15 for their first outing in the All-Ireland series next Sunday against Monaghan in Clones which is down for a start time of 4 p.m. and will be shown live on RTÉ 2

Prior to Mayo’s senior Connacht championship semi-final defeat to Roscommon, there was concern around the county over a number of positions on the team that needed upgrading if Mayo were going to challenge for honours, especially to win a Connacht title.

However, the Mayo management didn’t buy into these concerns by pundits within and outside the county.

As a result, they were made to pay dearly by their team's dismal performance against Roscommon as they received a lot of negative comments from supporters in the aftermath.

To put it mildly, Mayo’s ranking in inter county senior Gaelic football dropped to a new low.

Now, next Sunday, Moran and his selectors have the opportunity to try and restore some pride in their county's senior team.

With this in mind, we can expect to see a wide range of changes to the starting 15 after recent challenge games against Limerick, Meath and Kildare.

Starting with the goalkeeper, it will come as no surprise to see Jack Livingstone being given his chance.

In front of him it is expected that team captain, Jack Coyne, will be accompanied in fullback line by David McBrien and Enda Hession.

Paddy Durcan, Donnacha McHugh and Sam Callinan are favourites to start in the half back line.

We are likely to see a double change in the midfield pairing with Jordan Flynn and Mattie Ruane starting.

There is also the possibility that Ballina’s Dylan Thornton or Bob Tuohy will be under consideration for these two vital positions.

Up front is where we are likely to see the most sweeping changes.

Jack Carney will be at right-half forward and will be joined in this line by Conor Loftus at centre forward and Stephen Coen at 12.

Coen’s inclusion at left half forward will allow him to drift back and support the midfielders as well as covering for Sam Callininan and Enda Hession, both of whom like to push forward.

The full forward line should see Ryan O’Donoghue at 14 and he will be flanked by Darragh Beirne and Kobe McDonald.

Fenton Kelly, Aidan O’Shea, one short of his 100th appearance, Paul Towey and Cian McHale are expected to be impact substitutions.