Mayo yet to be tested as Donegal implode

It’s hard to believe but Mayo have yet to be really tested. Not by Donegal yesterday nor by any opponent in Connacht. But they are odds on favourites for the All-Ireland and forced to challenge themselves from within.

That was evident from the enthusiasm of their subs and from the way they ruthlessly went about adding scores when this quarter-final had long been decided.

There seemed to be a residual anger from last year’s All-Ireland final defeat. They cleansed themselves of that anguish in this performance.

In direct contrast to Kerry against Cavan, they refused to ease off. They continued to focus on the standard of their performance.

Donegal were a beaten team from very early on. Concerns after the Ulster final, that both mentally and physically they were exhausted, proved to be true. They simply couldn’t lift themselves anywhere near the heights of last summer.

The legs were heavy. They did enough to see off Laois but there was nothing left in the tank as soon as a fresh footballing team attacked them in waves.

Really, after two great seasons, it all came crashing down around Jim McGuinness’s team.

Mayo look to be attending to unfinished business. Their energy and enthusiasm was palpable yesterday.

Donie Buckley has added a new voice to James Horan’s backroom team and his ideas are very obvious, particularly the way they set up defensively and their tackling technique. They are fronting their men for the ball

All told, they are a far superior team than what we saw out of them in 2012.

Genuine pace
There is more width in their game and the running off the shoulder has gone to another level. Horan and Buckley have genuine pace to work with, coming from the back line. Lee Keegan did so much off the ball stuff and Donal Vaughan was a revelation, thundering up the field, not only for his goal but to create so many scores.

Switching Keith Higgins from defence to the half forward line, or running off the breaking ball in the middle third, gives them that extra punch through the middle.

But the man who has improved the most is Aidan O’Shea. Always a seriously talented midfielder, he has so clearly pushed himself to the limits with behind-the-scenes conditioning work. He is a naturally big, high fielding footballer but he looks fitter than ever.

Robert Hennelly, Mayo’s third choice goalkeeper, in fairness to him, did an impressive Stephen Cluxton impression with the accuracy of his kick outs.

O’Shea bossed those kick outs, even gathering a diagonal ball with one hand when a Donegal player had hold of the other, before promptly laying off possession.

His elder brother Séamus also played a fine supporting role alongside him.

The O’Sheas against the Cavanagh brothers should be some battle for midfield supremacy in the All-Ireland semi-final.

It all meant that the clinical finishing of Cillian O’Connor shined. He is such a composed figure in front of goal.

I still think it is hard to read too much into this Mayo performance. They did everything asked of them but this was the worst day Donegal will ever have in Croke Park.

Tyrone will force them to improve again. But they can do that.

Goal chances
Dublin's willingness to attack and ability to create goal chances puts them at the same level as the Connacht champions.

They are clearly willing to accept the consequences of sticking to the Jim Gavin blueprint. They will put up a big score at the cost, unlike Kerry or Tyrone, of leaving gaps in their defence.

The backs have to go man to man. Maybe that will hurt them.

It is difficult to gauge where Kerry are at from yesterday’s game against Cavan as it became apparent very early on that they would win.

That Cavan equalled them in all facets of play in the second half will disappoint Eamonn Fitzmaurice.

There was the positive of David Moran seamlessly coming into midfield for Anthony Maher and it was obvious the Kerry attack is more potent with James O’Donoghue getting low fast ball into their inside line. The high ball into Kieran Donaghy is too predictable.

It surprised me to see so many Kerry players flooding back behind the ball but it is the only way to counter Dublin’s pacy runs from deep. We are not familiar with it but in a tight game they still have the options of Darran and Declan O’Sullivan to show for ball.

Not that we’ve seen the real Kerry yet. It’s building.

I’d expect a lot more energy from them when faced by Dublin’s intensity. They know how much they need to improve to cope with that.

There is a lot more in them. Of that I’m sure.