Preview: Connacht SFC Final - Mayo v Sligo

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Preview: Connacht SFC Final - Mayo v Sligo

Friday, July 17, 2015

Sunday, July 19

Connacht Senior Football Championship Final

Mayo v Sligo, Dr Hyde Park, 4pm (Live on RTÉ and GAAGO)

With just three Connacht titles to Sligo's name compared to 44 on Mayo's roll of honour, the easy narrative ahead of Sunday's Connacht final is that Sligo are massive underdogs, a classic David and Goliath situation.

That would be to ignore the history of a rivalry which has consistently produced tight, competitive matches over the years. They met in the Connacht final three years ago, and Sligo gave a fancied Mayo a stern examination that day in 2012, coming up just short in a 0-12 to 0-10 defeat.

Their other meetings over the 20 years have also been tight. Sligo beat Mayo in the championship in 2010 and 2000, while their defeats to the Westerners in 1997, 2001 and 2003 were all tight and very much in the balance until the closing stages.

The enigma that is the Sligo senior football team delivered another bewitching day for the playbook in their Connacht semi-final victory over Roscommon back on June 20.

Mayo-Sligo

Last 5 Championship Meetings

2012: Mayo 0-12 Sligo 0-10
2010: Sligo 0-15 Mayo 1-8
2008: Mayo 3-11 Sligo 0-7
2003: Mayo 0-14 Sligo 0-11
2001: Mayo 1-12 Sligo 1-11

Roscommon were massively hyped coming into the game having being promoted to Division I less than two months earlier, while little was expected of Sligo. After all, they had languished in Division III and flirted with relegation to the bottom tier in a forgettable spring.

However, in a display typical of Sligo's tendency to deliver fluid, slick performances when least expected to, Niall Carew's side were way ahead of Roscommon and won 1-14 to 0-13, although their superiority on the day was actually considerably greater than the scoreline suggested.

While Sligo were courageous and disciplined in defence, and propelled by the vibrant midfield duo of Niall Murphy and Cian Breheny, the big story coming out of Markievicz Park that evening was the performance of their attack.

David Kelly and Pat Hughes delivered sensational ball-winning displays in the full-forward line, Adrian Marren kicked 1-7 in a heroic individual showing while captain Mark Breheny controlled things with his usual grace and intelligence from the half-forward line.

It was a brilliant display from a Sligo side who were way ahead of Roscommon in every department. That result was, and probably remains, the shock of the year to date and now that Sligo are in the final, Carew firmly believes they can beat Mayo.

“Do I think we can beat them? I do," he said. "But I do believe that we have to really perform to our best to beat a team like Mayo. It’s a big ask but you know Connacht football is good in terms of how competitive it does be even in relation to if you take Dublin, who seem to be blowing everyone out of the water in Leinster.

“I don’t think Mayo are that team, I hope they’re not, but again we will just focus everything on ourselves and focus on our performance. That’s what we’ll do. Obviously we have a plan for Mayo as well so that’s really our focus.”

While meetings between Mayo and Sligo have been close, Mayo are still the strong favourites coming into this game and the reasons for that are obvious.

The Westerners have been the deluxe side in Connacht for the past five years, and if they win on Sunday, they will become only the second ever team (after Galway, 1956-60), to win five Connacht titles in a row.

That would be a marvellous achievement for a group of players who, during James Horan's management from 2011-2014, developed into one of the best sides in Ireland. All-Ireland runners-up in 2012 and 2013, semi-finalists in 2011 and 2014, and a consistent power in Division I in all of those years, this Mayo side have walked the walk.

Although Horan is now gone, new managers Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes inherited the exact same set of players that Horan had at his disposal from 2011-2014, so the aim obviously remains the same in Mayo - win Connacht, press on to Croke Park and finally win the All-Ireland.

Perhaps due to the fact that there are new men on the sideline this year, and maybe because of their patchy spring campaign, the notion that an improving Galway could beat Mayo took light ahead of the semi-final back in June.

In the end, Galway never seriously threatened Mayo in a one-sided semi-final which the champions won 1-15 to 2-8. The sides were level at the break but in a typical mark of champions, Mayo took control in the third quarter, moving six points clear at one stage before seeing out the win with ease - a reflection of the serious experience they have built up since 2011.

Mayo leaked 2-8 that day though, and one of the big talking points about the Westerners at the moment centres on the supposed vulnerability of their often exposed defence. Jim McGuinness wrote about it at length recently, and some of the pre-match discussion this week has focused on the obvious point that an in-form Sligo attack could cause pain for Mayo's maligned back-line.

“Everybody is trying to protect their backline," admitted Connelly ahead of the game. "Donegal, they have a good full-back line but still try to get 12 players behind the ball. Do you resort to that tactic or maybe go half the way and then you have to design an offensive style as well.

"I would be lying if we said we are not looking at that to be more defensive but I wouldn't really buy into exactly what Joe Brolly and Jim McGuinness are saying. They do have a point - the evidence is there over the last number of years that it has been a position that we have been targeted in.

“We didn't curb it to the degree that we would like, hopefully we will be able to overcome that."

Both Mayo and Sligo have named their teams for the game. Sligo are unsurprisingly unchanged from their win over Roscommon, but Mayo have made two changes from the win over Galway, both in defence. Ger Cafferkey and Donal Vaughan both return to the back six, with Kevin Keane and Chris Barrett the two not included in the starting side.

***

MAYO: David Clarke; Ger Cafferkey, Donal Vaughan, Keith Higgins; Lee Keegan, Tom Cunniffe, Colm Boyle; Seamus O'Shea, Tom Parsons; Diarmuid O'Connor, Aidan O'Shea, Kevin McLoughlin; Andy Moran, Cillian O'Connor, Jason Doherty.

SLIGO: Aidan Devaney; Ross Donavan, Kevin McDonnell, Daniel Maye; Keelan Cawley, Brendan Egan, Eoin Flanagan; Cian Breheny, Niall Murphy; Criostoir Davey, Mark Breheny, Neil Ewing; David Kelly, Pat Hughes, Adrian Marren.

***

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