Mayo have a chance but will need the game of their lives

Inside Track with John McIntyre

UNLESS Mayo footballers produce something that we haven’t seeing from them so far in 2016, it’s impossible to avoid the conclusion that Dublin will comfortably collect their fourth Sam Maguire Cup in six seasons at Croke Park on Sunday. It’s not the outcome sporting romantics will want, but all the form-lines are strongly in favour of the reigning champions.

Having lost seven All-Ireland finals since the county’s last triumph way back in 1951, Mayo have become football’s unluckiest force and though Kerry had their number in three of those deciders, the Connacht men weren’t that far away against Cork in 1989 or Donegal in 2013, while they spurned great opportunities to beat Meath in 1996 and Dublin three years ago.

Mayo also had more agony inflicted on them in semi-final replays against Kerry (2014) and Dublin (2015) when they really ought to have clinched the deal in the drawn games. It’s some tale of big-day woe and after losing their five-year stranglehold on the provincial title to Galway this summer, few could envisage them regrouping sufficiently to make another All-Ireland final.

Apart from all the miles on the clock, the players’ revolt against last year’s joint-management ticket of Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly also seemed to wear heavily on their shoulders. And though managing to grind out results, there was nothing in the team’s subsequent run through the qualifiers against Fermanagh, Kildare and Westmeath to suggest Mayo were anything other than a declining force.

The moment of truth came against a resurgent Tyrone in the All-Ireland quarter-final and it was in this encounter that they finally displayed some of the fluency which had been lacking all-summer. Their vast experience was plain to see, but they still only had a point to spare in a fraught finish. At last, Mayo appeared to be getting some breaks, especially with only the minnows of Tipperary now barring their path to another final appearance.

However, Stephen Rochford’s charges made heavy work of carrying the day . . . their first goal from Jason Doherty coming against the run of play when they trailed by 0-6 to 0-3 and the second, something of a freak effort from substitute Conor O’Shea, arriving in the 63rd minute with Tipperary still in the hunt and only three points adrift. Worryingly, Mayo only managed a paltry 1-3 in that second half and that level of form won’t even keep them in Dublin’s slipstream on Sunday.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.