Football

Mayo need a win they can hold up to the light

Dublin are unbeaten in 12 games against Mayo since 2012.
Dublin are unbeaten in 12 games against Mayo since 2012. Dublin are unbeaten in 12 games against Mayo since 2012.

IT’S the rivalry that has defined a generation, but for now there won’t be any books about it.

We’d only be getting another few tear-tripping chapters on Keith Duggan’s House of Pain, which chronicles Mayo’s desperate longing for an All-Ireland.

The fabled Kerry-Dublin rivalry of the ‘70s and ‘80s, of which games on the big stage between these two have been the equal, had one key element that Dublin-Mayo is missing – a swing in fortunes.

Since their All-Ireland semi-final victory in 2012, they’ve met 12 times in league and championship and Mayo’s record reads nine defeats, three draws and no wins.

But had it not been for them, imagine the wilderness that football would have existed in. Last year was the first time on their four-in-a-row run that Dublin hadn’t to face either Mayo or Kerry, and they cruised to Sam Maguire even though there’s evidence of a marginal decline.

The Yerrah men were lining up to play the ‘it’s only February’ card after Kerry’s win over the champions in Tralee two weeks ago, and already the Mayo men are at it for fear that they might win on Saturday night.

And well they might.

Outside of those All-Ireland clashes in ’15, ’16 and ’17, this is Mayo’s biggest game in some while. That might seem a strange statement about a league game but consider what we know.

Mayo haven’t won three from three in the league since 2010. Not only are they going after it with gusto, but they’re remoulding parts of themselves while they’re doing it.

Rob Hennelly is getting football again. Brendan Harrison’s had a go at full-back, and Ger Cafferky did well last time out. Diarmuid O’Connor and Donal Vaughan look like a midfield pairing. Aidan O’Shea’s been releasing the ball much earlier.

Around him, they’re offering opportunities. Loads of them. Eoin O’Donoghue and Fergal Boland have a bit behind them, but look at the list of others Horan’s used already - Fionn McDonagh, Ciaran Treacy, Brian Reape, Conor Diskin, David Drake, Matthew Ruane, Colm Moran, Michael Plunkett, James McCormack.

These are not familiar names, and it all seems different from the occasional run-out for Evan Regan or Conor Loftus, which has felt like the height of experimentation in recent seasons.

They look to be trying to build a useable squad that goes beyond the 17 or 18 players that Stephen Rochford truly trusted.

Dublin have been ever-present in the National League final since 2012, and a third defeat of the campaign would mean that, provided Kerry win one more game somewhere, it would be a mathematical impossibility for Jim Gavin’s side to continue that run.

That puts silverware on the line for the Dubs, and that puts weight into the game from their end.

There is the added context of their defeats by Monaghan and Kerry, explained away by their late start. Would that be the same late start they’ve had in each of the last four years? It seems a convenient excuse given the long stretch of wiping the floor with the same teams in the same circumstances.

In an interview last year, Enda Varley described the rivalry as “almost toxic”. Given that Mayo smell blood and Dublin fear losing their untouchable aura, there’s unlikely to be many backward steps.

Psychologically, that all plays into James Horan’s hands. In order to sell to his own players the significance of this game, he needs Dublin to need to win.

That would make a Mayo win something they can hold up to the light in summer. It’s something they badly need.