AUDIO Football Podcast 2015 #7 All-Ireland quarter-final review

Observers anxious for Mayo when they scanned the squad that would see them through the current calendar year.

“It’s definitely where you want to be”, added Higgins, the Mayo captain realising that comes with several meanings. “You can see the way the boys bounced back last year when it would have been easy for them to throw in the towel, but you just move on”. “So all we are concerned about is next Saturday at 6pm against Donegal and putting in a big performance”.

“But he’s very disappointed, we’ll have to look at it and see whether or not it was a correct decision”.

“We look at it as horses for courses”, said Connelly.

“We had a lot of chances then in the last 10 or 15 minutes, just didn’t take them, but at the same time we didn’t let them in for much either”.

As for the Dubs in three weeks time, Mayo haven’t been thinking that far ahead yet says the joint manager. There’s also a fearlessness about the way Mayo are playing which may well be their trump card against Dublin.

As expected, the beaten Ulster finalists defended in layers but Galway weren’t exactly behind the door either in terms of getting bodies back behind the ball – for long chunks of this match, this was cat and mouse stuff: in the end though it was Donegal who had by far the sharper claws. “It’s about being patient, waiting for the runners coming through and when they come, be clinical when they do appear”.

Only for a duo of pointed efforts from Murphy which left it a one point game heading for half time. There’s teams that do play that style of football, against Sligo they wouldn’t have been doing that. We’re under no illusions. We know the calibre of team they are. They’re very strong, throughout the park.

Lacey is named at centre-back in one of two changes made by manager Rory Gallagher.

“Ach, no, this is a fairly experienced Donegal team, so it wouldn’t have been a major factor, no”, said Gallagher, after his team slipped to an eight-point defeat. We could have probably killed the game off earlier than we did, but overall I thought the performance was good from the lads.

“It would have been ideal to go through the front door, no doubt about that”.

Two Michael Murphy frees reduced the deficit to the minimum, but O’Shea’s goal in the second minute of first-half injury time was a killer score. “We had a two or three-point lead for most of the first half, but it came back to one (before the goal)”.

This season Aidan O Shea has brought something new to their attack and the return of Tom Parsons has allowed Mayo the opportunity to release the man mountain to the edge of the square. It was disappointing to lose Neil Gallagher though.

Mayo look likely to go into Saturday’s contest as marginal favourites but Gallagher believes the bookies will have no effect on the Croke Park contest. They have what it takes to beat Monaghan but can they deliver on the day is another question.