Cool Mayo move on but are still untested

Mayo 1-16 Roscommon 0-11: A year has seen little change in the West. Mayo will travel to Salthill in mid-July to play Galway in a reprise of last year's Connacht final.

The legitimacy of their All-Ireland aspirations will be more accurately gauged by how they fare against their eternal rivals. Mayo sauntered home in the sunshine here, but that was no more than was expected of last September's finalists.

Life has become complicated for Mayo in the past few months, but failure to beat a modest Roscommon team yesterday would have represented a total disaster for the green and red. In fairness, they never so much as flirted with that terrible vista and controlled a football match that was pleasant, but nothing more.

Only seven of the Mayo team that suffered so terribly against Kerry in last year's showpiece started yesterday, an indication of how radically a team can change over nine months, but perhaps also a sign of the number of candidates within Mayo.

Yesterday Billy Joe Padden did his reputation no harm with an industrious hour at full forward and it was notable how his predecessor Trevor Mortimer, coming back from injury, thrived in his half-forward role when he came on with quarter of an hour to go.

The key move for Mayo, however, was the introduction of James Gill. He entered the game as a blood substitute with three minutes left in the first half and his impact was so immediate and prevalent that it seems likely he will start the rest of the championship for Mayo, however long that lasts.

And that is the question for Mayo. How far can they go? Pitied last September and perceived as flattering to deceive during the league, Mayo are deemed to be a falling star in many quarters. But they must continue to believe they are an All-Ireland quality team and to that mind, John Maughan's verdict was understandable yesterday.

"No, we didn't play well. When you win a game by seven or eight points it can gloss over things and I don't want to be anyway disrespectful to Roscommon. But we didn't contest the breaking ball, we made a lot of basic mistakes and there was no fluency to our game. We were a bit edgy out there today and that was hard to understand. We played well in patches, but that was it."

And it was true. The most heartening thing from a Mayo perspective was that as the game heated up, they looked like a team that discovered it still loved the game of football after all. As it happened, Roscommon were probably the perfect opponents for Mayo to meet at this point in their renaissance, full of heart but lacking the sting.

Troubled by London Roscommon may have been, but in front of 15,000 people in the Hyde Park, they will never be less than a stubborn team. They were bold and full of effort for the first half-hour, with John Whyte and David Casey dictating defence and the midfield winning plenty of ball. Ger Heneghan found a hot shooting touch during the first half hour, but it was a pity that Roscommon could not get Stephen Lohan to ignite.

Their first half-hour deserved more than a five-point return and with Mayo keeping in touch with frees, they conceded a demoralising goal to the ever-alert Conor Mortimer after 36 minutes.

That goal had been threatening, with desperate Roscommon cover preventing earlier attacks from coming to fruition. A curved pass from Ciarán McDonald, played down the wings, found Padden and he fisted the ball across the exposed Roscommon goal for Mayo's last blond (McDonald has returned to his roots) to fist home. Seconds later Mortimer cantered in for another point from close range and whatever intrigue the match held quietly died.

"We didn't deserve to be behind at half-time," said Roscommon manager Val Daly, "but we gave away possession too easily. Good teams keep possession and use it. That is something we are going to have to work on over the next few weeks."

Roscommon were game in the second half - Karol Mannion made lively bursts, John Rogers lashed a half-chance over the bar and Francie Grehan gave an honest account - but as a team they were not good enough.

With Gill's athleticism and accuracy causing problems and big-time players like Ronan McGarrity, James Nallen and McDonald opening up, Mayo cruised smoothly away. Big Shane Fitzmaurice had a solid hour partnering McGarrity. The defence had a rudimentary afternoon, with David Clarke required to execute none of the miracle saves that set him apart in the league.

In many ways, it was a classic Mayo performance, full of beautiful touches and open play and highly convincing in places. What was lacking was the one element all counties that have made it to the summit over the past three years possessed in abundance: hatred. True, it was not the kind of afternoon that made it easy to summon such extreme emotion.

But one cannot help feel Mayo need an element of raw anger, an us-against-the-world mentality if they are to capitalise on a style that is never less than pleasing on the eye.

After all, Mayo have cause for anger more than most football teams. It is too early to announce that they are "back" - and no one is fully sure where they disappeared to begin with. Another full tilt at glory seems unlikely at this stage, but they have the time to turn it around and the upcoming Galway-Mayo chapter seems as important as any played in recent history.

MAYO: D Clarke; K Higgins, D Heaney, G Ruane; C Moran, J Nallen, G Mullins; R McGarrity, S Fitzmaurice; A Moran (0-2), C McDonald (0-2, one free), A Dillon (0-1, free); C Mortimer (1-4, three frees), BJ Padden (0-2), S Carolan (0-2). Subs: J Gill (0-1) for A Dillon (half-time), T Mortimer (0-2) for S Carolan (55 mins), B Moran for S Fitzmaurice (67 mins).

ROSCOMMON: S Curran; B McNeela, J Whyte, S McDermott; M Ryan, D Casey, J Rogers (0-1); S O'Neill, B Higgins; K Mannion, F Grehan (0-1), E Kenny; G Cox (0-2 frees), S Lohan, G Heneghan (0-6, 3 frees). Subs: M Beirne for S McDermott (half-time), J Dunning (0-1) for G Cox (42 mins), M Finneran for E Kenny (46 mins), F Dolan for M Beirne (60 mins).

Referee: M Collins (Cork).