GAELIC GAMES:IT MIGHT be hard to remember and – given the charred landscapes that remained – harder to credit but Mayo didn't go into either of the recent All-Ireland finals with Kerry in a state of hopelessness and despair.
That may be a tribute to the county’s resilience of spirit but it’s also a cautionary guide when assessing tomorrow’s All-Ireland football semi-final at Croke Park. In other words how far have Mayo improved in the past season and to what extent were champions Cork any more accurate a benchmark than Tyrone in 2004 and Dublin two years later?
On the pessimistic side, there is no comparison between the possibilities of Kerry’s forwards with their litany of All Stars and Footballer of the Year gongs and the injury-bedevilled Cork attack, which managed two scores (1-1) throughout the second, third and fourth quarters of the Mayo match.
On a more positive note, Kerry from centrefield back aren’t nearly as formidable as they were on those days in the last decade when Mayo were put to the sword. It’s also fair to say that the forwards aren’t in the same Triple-A category they occupied in those finals.
Comparing Cork and Kerry should be an encouragement to Mayo given how closely fought the Munster final turned out but the All-Ireland champions were seriously depleted by the last day.
Mayo certainly can’t afford to fall into the same traps tomorrow. If they take 15 minutes to find their bearings in their own back eight, Kerry will be out of sight with an irretrievable lead because the Munster champions won’t confine themselves to a point every 11 minutes for the remainder of the match.
Centrefield will be a pivotal contest. Kerry are short their first-choice pairing because of long-term injury and Anthony Maher and Bryan Sheehan will be up against the O’Shea brothers (of the Kerry gene pool) who successfully disrupted the highly-regarded Cork unit of Aidan Walsh and Alan O’Connor.
The problem was that having grafted so productively they coughed up a fair bit of the possession (conservatively a third) by taking ball into the tackle and distributing poorly. There may be question marks over the mobility of an ageing Kerry defence but if you run into them they’ll be happy enough to dispossess you.
There was a lot to admire in how Mayo played their way back into the quarter-final and, even accepting Cork’s shortcomings up front, the Connacht champions have an established record this season of strangling opposition attacks in the second half of matches, having conceded a total of just four points after half-time in their last three matches.
Again it has to be emphasised that they haven’t had to deal with the quality of forwards that Kerry bring to tomorrow’s semi-final.
None the less there is surprisingly little substance to the assumption that Mayo broke the bank overcoming Cork; they have plenty of room for improvement. Aside from the O’Sheas’ ball retention, the forwards could be more clinical in their performances.
As an exercise in turning possession into pressure, Mayo played really well but the finishing could have been more efficient. That can improve although it would be asking a lot to expect Andy Moran to better his two dozen possessions – he beat Michael Shields out to nearly everything – of which wasted disposals could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Alan Freeman was sacrificed to allow greater space inside but at the expense of his scoring threat. Jason Doherty showed well on his introduction but James Horan has apparently resisted any temptation to start him tomorrow with an unchanged selection.
It remains to be seen if Trevor Mortimer, who missed this week’s practice match, has recovered sufficiently to take his place but if he isn’t it will be a major loss for Mayo, as his experience and presence have been a steadying influence but you wouldn’t want to be tracking Darran O’Sullivan, especially in his current form, with any fitness issues.
Similarly Donal Vaughan at centre back will find Declan O’Sullivan, who’s having a super year, a more multi-dimensional challenge than Cork were able to mount.
Kieran Donaghy and Colm Cooper have both wrought significant damage in previous meetings and although both haven’t been at their best this season they’re capable – Cooper in particular – of finding their rhythm at any stage in Croke Park.
It’s reasonable to believe that Mayo have momentum and a game plan that’s working for them and also that Kerry perhaps explained away a little too easily last year’s defeat by Down. But as of now, the favourites carry too much tried and tested firepower.
