Is this The End? Mayo hang by fingertips over the precipice after just one game
THE GROUP STAGES has claimed its' first victim.
Ok, ok, that's not strictly true. But the reaction and the despondency around Mayo's loss to Cavan in Castlebar has many feeling that there is simply no way back for a side that brings something unique to the All-Ireland football championship on an annual basis.
Here, we consider what lies ahead of them.
The Road Is Long
First off, they have a weekend off. What they do with that downtime is anybody's guess, but if it's misjudged, then the sour feeling of last weekend never gets blown out of the system.
After that, they have to go to Omagh and get a result against Tyrone.
A Tyrone team that lost to Armagh in the Ulster semi-final. And a Tyrone team that have to go to Ballybofey this Saturday night.
Chances are, Tyrone could be heading to Omagh looking at three consecutive defeats in championship football and fighting for their lives.
And after that, the final game in the group is against Donegal at a neutral venue; possibly Sligo's Markievicz Park.
And they need to do more than just get a solitary win, as Cavan will have their number on the head-to-head rule if they don't pick up another point themselves.
It's a tight corner.
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Crowded Houses
It didn't escape anybody's attention that these two met in the All-Ireland round robin last year too.
Same teams, same venue, same stage of the competition in the first round of games; that Mayo won 0-20 to 1-8.
Ciaran Brady going through the Mayo defence. James Lawlor / INPHO James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
While that was a comfortable win and expected to be so again, our eye gets drawn to the attendance figures.
Last year was held up as an example that the Mayo crowd had, at last, lost the faith. 9,197 turned up.
On Sunday, that figure dropped to 7,387. This was the lowest championship attendance in Castlebar for over a decade.
Ever since the All-Ireland final of 2021, the manic, demented support that Mayo could rely upon has been wilting around the fringes.
Who knows, maybe a great deal of it was demonstrative and had the feel of Ireland soccer fans at a major tournament.
But either way, the gig-like atmosphere at Mayo games has largely disappeared.
Should I McStay Or Should I Go?
'It was a difficult game, a stop-start and we just couldn't get any rhythm to it…full credit to Cavan, on the day they were definitely the better team,' said Mayo manager Kevin McStay to the RTÉ cameras afterwards.
Kevin McStay. James Lawlor / INPHO James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
His implication was tackled head on by Sunday Game night time show analyst Dessie Dolan, who said, 'Mayo weren't able to get rhythm because Cavan didn't let them get rhythm.'
In other words, the Mayo players were not sufficiently prepared or emotionally at the right pitch. That kind of failing tends to fall into the lap of the fellas along the line.
Doubts over McStay's tenure have been closing in. The protracted review process over the winter made things messy. He might decide that the whole thing is just not worth it. Three years in, no provincial titles and they appear to be drifting listlessly on.
Players Love You When They're Playing
Since Noah was sailing model boats around the bath, there has been a complaint about the Mayo forwards. The stark analysis here is brutal; four of the starting six attackers were taken off. They had 0-2 from play on the board before Aidan O'Shea's late, late goal.
Cillian O'Connor's statement ahead of 2025 – that he was taking a year out of the Mayo team – hinted at a man who was banking on something like this to happen and put himself in line for a recall under new management in 2026.
Paddy Durcan and Dara McVeety clash. James Lawlor / INPHO James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
The sight of Cavan players such as Ciaran 'Holla' Brady waltzing through the centre of the Mayo defence shows that you can employ all the zonal defences you want, but a lad like Lee Keegan, Donie Vaughan or Colm Boyle would have met him with a thump.
Mayo don't have too many players of that stature left. Few teams ever have them.
Maybe I'm Amazed
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps we are all making a little too much out of this.
Maybe every team is due one stinker of a performance in the group stages. It happened to Donegal last year when they lost to Cork in a pressure-cooker Pairc Uí Rinn.
But really after that, you'd have to break out the record books to get many more examples.
This defeat and the manner of it, comes not only at a bad time for Mayo. The negative facets are legion; their one home fixture, against the bottom-seeded side, an opening round that tends to set the tone.
It's not looking too good, is it?
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