Connacht Senior Football Championship Final – Mayo v Galway – Croke Park -1. 30 pm – RTE
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Mayo will go head to head with Galway at Croke Park in Dublin this coming Sunday at 1.30 pm in the Connacht Senior Football Championship Final live on RTÉ.
In their last outing, Mayo thrashed Leitrim in the semi-finals of the Connacht championship. Winning by 5-20 (35) to 0-11 (11) in a 24-point winning margin at MacHale Park in Castlebar.
Now, the Connacht Senior Football Championship Final – Mayo v Galway will be live on RTÉ 2 as part of a double header.
Throughout their league campaign, Mayo has been on tip-top form, after their shock relegation. They have bounced back to Division 1 in style.
Since their promotion, James Horan’s side has steamrolled through their provincial rivals, stomping Sligo by 20 points in the quarter-final and them Leitrim in the semi’s.
They now face a rejuvenated Galway side, who are coming into this game on a high after toppling Roscommon at Dr Hyde Park with a score of 0-12 (12) to 2-11 (17) to book their place in Sunday’s final.
This will be Galway’s fourth consecutive Connacht final, winning only one title in those final appearances.
Their opponents, Mayo, will compete in their first back-to-back Connacht finals after completing a historic five-in-a-row from 2011 to 2015. Four of which were under James Horan’s management.
Both counties are the dominant force in their province, with a combined total of 93 titles between the two rivals, with Mayo winning one more title (47) to Galway’s (46) to make them Connacht’s most successful team.
This final will be a repeat of last years Connacht decider where Mayo prevailed to reclaim their first title since 2015, in a 0-14 to 0-13 victory at Pearse Stadium in Galway.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Looking at both team’s, they do possess a lot of advantages and disadvantages coming into this game.
Many questions have been asked of Mayo’s firepower going forward without their talisman Cillian O’Connor after the Ballintubber man suffered an Achilles injury against Clare. Since then Mayo has scored a combined total of 8-43 (67 points) in their past two games.
Now, this is more than likely down to the poor level of quality faced, but with Tommy Conroy and Ryan O’Donoghue improving game by game, and with the addition of Aidan O’Shea in the full-forward line, he has shown in the past that he can cause damage if given the proper service.
The Tribesmen on the other hand lack that winning mentality, even if they do beat Mayo on Sunday, come to the big games in the All-Ireland they often fail to impress. Only reaching the semi-final of the All-Ireland once (2018) since their last All-Ireland victory back in 2001.
Conclusion
On any given day, Galway can beat Mayo, especially this Mayo side who are still in a transitional phase.
Mayo will be more than confident in getting one over their rivals for the second year in a row and with their forward line looking sharp if Galway does overcome this Mayo side, they will be darkhorse’s for the remainder of the championship season.
All in all, I see James Horan’s side coming out winners in this one. Looking sharper in their past two games, and seemingly wanting to prove they can compete in O’Connor’s absence, claiming a 48th Connacht title will set up a mouth-watering tie against Dublin.
Prediction: Mayo by 5 points
Starting Teams
Mayo
Galway
Betting
Mayo: 4/6
Galway: 13/8
Draw: 15/2
