Peter Canavan column: Galway and Mayo could have long summer campaigns
Friday 3 May 2019 20:01, UK
Sky Sports GAA analyst Peter Canavan looks at the opening weekend of the All-Ireland Football Championship, with Galway travelling to London and New York hosting Mayo in the Connacht quarter-finals.
Sunday's trip to London is a tricky tie for Galway. If they win easy, they're expected to win easy. If they're run close, then they're seen to be embarrassed.
What Kevin Walsh wants from this weekend is to get through. He won't be fussy about the scoreline. It's to get through without any serious setbacks with injury.
Galway would have preferred they had gotten to the league final, but at the same time they were more than comfortable in Division 1. They're very much below the radar, which is a nice position to be coming into the championship.
Walsh knows the Corofin men will bolster them. In particular, we're all very well aware of Ian Burke and the quality he possesses. We've witnessed that at club and county level. But the man I'm really looking forward to making a real impact in the championship this year is Kieran Molloy.
His performances throughout the club championship have been something else. He's gotten stronger physically in the space of a year. He's really matured and filled out. His performance in the club final was superb. He won the Club Player of the Year award, and rightly so.
He's one player I'm expecting to have a big say in Galway's championship this year.
Galway's style
I think they've moved on from last year. They're not playing as defensively as they were, going on their league performances. A number of teams have moved on in that regard, Tyrone likewise were intent on moving the ball quicker and keeping men up front.
Galway know they possess the players to do that. Not every county has a full-forward like Damien Comer. He's so physically strong and he can win the ball any way it's coming in. So I would expect that you will see Galway changing their style of play.
They won't just be a ball-carrying team. They will be have a great emphasis on kicking the ball. When you have the likes of Shane Walsh and Comer, someone of Ian Burke's craft and ingenuity up front, why wouldn't you want to get the ball in early?
Kevin Walsh realises that relying on a counter-attacking style can only take you so far.
Mayo must deal with all the hype and expectation that comes with being National League champions. They're going over to New York. They've a target on their back already.
Often with teams that are going out to New York at the start of May, they're doing so without a lot of their experienced players. But you look at that Mayo team, the first five or six names are household players, reliable, experienced defenders - Keith Higgins, Colm Boyle, Brendan Harrison, Lee Keegan. I can't see anything other than a strong Mayo performance.
New York will have difficulty breaking these boys down.
It's exciting from a Mayo point of view, especially the Matthew Ruane-Aidan O'Shea partnership. O'Shea has been reinvigorated. His National League performances have been superb, and it's the main reason why Mayo ended up winning it.
Ruane has come in, all the talk with Mayo midfielders before this has been about Donal Vaughan, Seamie O'Shea and Tom Parsons. But Ruane has come up and been really impressive. He seems to be complementing Aidan O'Shea.
The main question mark moving forward is their proficiency up front. Can they be clinical? Will we see a ruthlessness about Mayo moving forward? Despite winning the National League, they defeated Kerry in the final by having 65 or 70% of possession and still struggled to get over the line.
It's unlikely that they're going to dominate the middle of the park as much against the Dublins, Tyrones and Galways. That's the big question. The biggest area of improvement for James Horan is to make his scoring unit more proficient.
James sent out a message when he put on trials - there were trials for everybody in Mayo. No matter how long you were there, what age you were. It was a clear statement of intent from the off. He took the league seriously, he blooded a lot of younger players but in every game, there was a core of experienced, top class players. Without a doubt, with Horan involved and an experienced group of players there, Mayo are a force to be reckoned with.
What are the odds that the two teams that kick off the championship could be the last two standing? I firmly believe that Mayo and Galway will be in the Super 8s. There's every opportunity that they'll be in the semi-finals. They could well be among the last four, never mind the last two.
