Nowhere to Hyde as Dubs loom; FRC proposals welcome

Before I get onto the very interesting FRC (Football Review Committee) proposals, there’s the small matter of a full round of football fixtures, with another meeting of Mayo and Dublin getting top billing.

The usual buzz that precedes a game against Dublin is fairly absent this week, partly because it isn’t a knockout fixture but also because the expectation around this Mayo team isn’t what it was a few years ago.

It’s an exciting novelty to get them out of Croke Park for a change even if it does entail going to the pitch beside the graveyard again. I know we always win there but that’s because we’re usually playing Roscommon.

There wasn’t a massive away contingent the last day out there and you could forgive Mayo fans for being a little sick of the place.

The bookies have Dublin at 1/5 and they’re usually not that far wrong.

While the top seeding spot is coveted, the game is lower stakes than previous Mayo-Dublin clashes. I think supporters down here would like to see a more gung-ho approach compared to previous games.

So far it’s been fairly structured and methodical stuff from Mayo in possession. That hard running from the half-back line that was characteristic of the Horanball era isn’t really who they are anymore.

The Connacht final could have gone either way in the finish but there’s a sense that Mayo’s lack of directness and cautiousness on the ball did cost them another Nester Cup last month.

Mayo are continually judged by the yardstick of the 2010s team though there’s been plenty of turnover in the squad since then. The O’Connors, Aidan O’Shea and Paddy Durcan are still trucking away – even if Paddy is unavailable to us this summer – but otherwise it’s a largely new team.

And there are bright spots, for sure. They still racked up 0-20 against Cavan and then 2-14 the last day against the Rossies, which isn’t bad scoring.

Given it’s not a pure knockout game, I’d say there’s scope for tweaks this Sunday. Maybe move Tommy Conroy to the half-forward line, shift Jordan Flynn into midfield, etc.

They have a couple of selection conundrums. David McBrien picked up a hamstring injury last week and is in a race to make it back. How close is Diarmuid O’Connor to a return? Do you risk the two of them in the circumstances?

For me, the answer is no. The likelihood is Mayo will be in action the week after this one and we saw what happened last year. With the preliminary quarter-final and, hopefully, the quarter-final coming hot on the heels of one another, you could be dead on your feet by the end of it. The second half of last year’s quarter-final against Dublin being Exhibit A in that regard.

The Dubs, no doubt, will arrive fully locked and loaded and seeking top spot in the group and a rest week.

I recall Dean Rock saying in a media gig before the Mayo-Dublin league game that it was really important for Dublin to keep Mayo in their place and not give them any reasons for hope. That’s the attitude they’ll bring into this game.

The two teams became obsessed with each other over the peak of that rivalry around the 2016-17 period – at least we certainly became obsessed with them.

We played them in 10 championship games over the course of my career, winning two, drawing two and losing six – a better strikerate than anyone else managed against them in that span.

Unfortunately, as we know, neither of those wins were in finals. We were always a percent or two away from beating them.

The 2017 game was our best All-Ireland performance by a mile. Dublin were thought to be invincible after destroying Tyrone in the semi and we led them at half-time, even after conceding a goal in the first minute.

The most demoralising thing through those years was trying to deal with their sheer strength in depth.

You enter the last quarter, you’ve gone toe-to-toe with them, you’re dead on your legs. And then they throw on Diarmuid Connolly or Bernard Brogan or Kevin McManamon.

You’re on the pitch, thinking ‘there’s no end to these f****rs’. It was pure whack-a-mole trying to keep all their forwards shackled.

The 2016 replay was an even better example. All the Dublin forwards we had planned for and been warned about and given specific pointers on in our pre-match preparation – Cormac Costello wasn’t even mentioned.

Then he’s sprung from the bench, kicks three points and wins the game. That was the difference ultimately.

Ironically, we finally beat them again in 2021 after playing s***e. That was more a case of that Dublin team finally hitting a wall than anything else.

We also got a bit of luck too, which eluded us in several other games. I can say as much now but there’s absolutely no way Rob Hennelly’s ’45 to level it at the end of normal time should have been re-taken. The official reason was that Stephen Coen hadn’t gotten off the pitch yet. Dublin got punished for that! It was a touch ridiculous but, look, we weren’t going to turn our nose up.

The jury is out on whether the Dubs class of 2024 is as potent as the 2015-20 team but they still have the depth to devour teams in the final quarter. We saw that in the first round robin game, where the Rossies were highly competitive and efficient for most of the game. They slackened off a bit down the straight and wound up losing by 12 points.

A word on the first instalment of Sunday’s telly double header – Armagh and Galway is a fascinating match-up and there’s a lot of previous there.

Kieran McGeeney’s side looked like a team reborn in Celtic Park, particularly impressive given how gut-wrenching it was to lose a second straight Ulster final on penalties. Derry looked a bit of a busted flush but the way Armagh devoured them was terrific to watch. It was champagne stuff almost, their most complete performance.

Galway are a very shrewd and clever team, particularly where it comes to facing Ulster teams. But I think they’re down too many stars. The likely loss of Damien Comer, Sean Kelly and Rob Finnerty might be too much to overcome this weekend.

Personally, I’d love to see Armagh go for the kill this weekend and nail back-to-back wins against big teams. I suspect they will go and take top spot in Group 1.

FRC proposals

The proposals emerging from the Football Review Committee are hugely welcome.

The two-point rule from 40m is an excellent idea, which should have the effect of forcing teams out of their deep defensive structures. They’ll have to be more aggressive at pushing up on the ball carrier and it will create more space in behind. And it will reward long range point-takers – a skill worth rewarding (Paul Conroy might be inclined to stick around a couple more years if he can).

The four-point goal is worth trialling, although there’s a possibility it could make teams even more conscious of minding the net.

I’ve laid into the ‘attacking mark’ for the guts of a year and a half on here. I’d have been inclined towards abolishing it completely. But I can see the merit in pushing it back to the 20m line.

You’ll encourage teams to go long into the square and you’re getting rid of the farcical situation currently of lads claiming marks for simple catches into the chest from straightforward passes, some of which are almost fully lateral.

The attempt to define the tackle is brave – a lot of rules committees have tried and failed. The proposal is that a hand be allowed on the front of an opponent to stop their momentum.

The tackle rule as it is is fairly hazy, though we managed to muddle through. With Mayo, we were lucky to have Donie Buckley, one of the best coaches in that area.

We were a one-on-one team so in defensive situations, he stressed the importance of footwork in the tackle and being good at defending in open space.

Donie would arrange box-drills of 4v4 and it was kill or be killed. I can still hear him in his Kerry accent roaring “Contact Leeroy! Contact! Get tighter! You’ve got ta move your a**e!”

The effect of his coaching was that in group defence situations, we became so good at stripping ball. But also, when in open spaces, we were very comfortable in one-on-one situations, with our footwork and tackle technique.

One time, after we won the intermediate All-Ireland with Westport in 2017, I was on the beer for a week. I came on in the Roscommon game the following Saturday but we were playing Dublin the week after.

Donie came to me and said: “Leeroy, I need to talk to you for a minute now, OK! Listen, you’re not going to play in the half-back line against Dublin because I feel Croke Park is too big for ya.

“And I’m just going to tell ya as a friend, you’ve a wee bit of an arse on ya so I’m going to shtick ya in the full-back line this week, is that alright? Now, good lad, good lad. I want to see ya in the box drills tonight, I want to see ya get contact.”

It didn’t work out with Peter Keane when he went down to Kerry but we’re delighted to see Donie back on the Mayo sideline, as he has been for most of the last decade.

Watch an All-Ireland Football Championship double-header, Armagh v Galway (1.45pm) and Dublin v Mayo (3.45pm) on Sunday on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1