Mayo for Sam 2016.
Another summer and yet another Mayo failure in Croke Park.
The long wait for the that elusive All-Ireland title to lift the curse of ’51 continues after their 3-15 to 1-14 loss to Dublin.
Joe Brolly called Mayo the ‘Masters of Disaster’ on RTE’s Saturday Game, and he has continued on that theme today in his Sunday Independent column, where he lays the blame for the seven point loss firmly at the door of the Mayo management and their tactics employed on Saturday.
The Derry man claims that Mayo lost the game having not taken on board any of the lessons from last Sunday’s drawn game.
“Mayo learned nothing from last week’s drawn game. Nothing. Their strategy for Stephen Cluxton’s kickouts remained a mystery. The ‘sort of, maybe, not really, should we, oh maybe we shouldn’t, ah go on, oh we better not push up’ strategy is not one I’m familiar with.”
Brolly is also perplexed why the Mayo forwards continued to persist with long ball into Aidan O’Shea on a day when the Breaffy man scored just one point, but Dublin corner back Philly McMahon racked up 1-2.
The former All-Ireland winner was horrified to see how O’Shea, for the second week running, was left with no support in the Mayo full-forward line
“Like last week he was left isolated, expected to work miracles. Dublin dealt with his threat by ensuring there was always a sweeper at both the Dublin left half and right back position so Mayo could not rake in the diagonal balls that O’Shea needed.”
“Denied these positions Mayo continued to kick long anyway, up into the air and ad straight down the field. It was excruciating to watch. “
Brolly however keeps his most harsh criticism for the Mayo sweeper role, and it’s lack of impact on the game. Brolly describes it as
“The angel of death was in the third sorrowful mystery: the non-sweeper. Three laughable goals in nine minutes.”
The Derry man feels the county’s naivety in all things tactical was their ultimate undoing, and is particularity harsh on their failure to learn from previous games.
“They do not have a strategy for preventing goals, just as they do not have one for scoring them. Hoping for the best is a tactic that invariably results in the worst. and so the inevitable unfolded.
“Like this team’s previous defeats in Croke Park it is not the fault of the players. Without en grained systems of play victory is impossible.”
