Twelve points up early in the second half, but in the end they held on by the skin of their teeth in Clones last Sunday, beating Monaghan by a single point. “What is it about Mayo,” asks Darragh Ó Sé. “The players change, the management changes…. and they still look like a Netflix documentary waiting to happen.” All he can conclude is that if they keep making it hard for themselves, they “won’t be going very far in the All-Ireland”.
Next up for Mayo is a trip to Omagh where they will play Tyrone, Darragh taking a look at Monday’s draw for rounds 2A and 2B of the football championship - one that “didn’t throw up a load of show-stoppers”.
After ending their 53-year wait for a first championship win over Dublin, Louth are at home to Armagh next - although with their new stadium still under construction, it’s not certain yet where that home will be. Armagh’s Aidan Forker isn’t too concerned, though, about what venue will be chosen. “It is two sets of posts and a patch of grass,” he tells Gordon Manning.
Paul O’Brien turns his Tactical Analysis eye to that Louth triumph over the Dubs, smart tweaks, superb efficiency and a change to their second half kickout approach turning the contest their way.
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Meddling with the hurling championship to soothe weaker teams misses the point entirely
What Irish rugby can learn from France
While Dublin will have to dust themselves down ahead of an away game against Cavan, Kerry have some healing to do too after their “trimming at the hands of Donegal last time out”. Gordon talks to Tadhg Morley about their next challenge - a visit to Kildare.
There has, of course, been plenty of chat about that half-time melee in Killarney and questions about why Jim McGuinness went unpunished for his involvement in it when Dublin’s Ger Brennan ended up with a three-month ban for a similar incident. “I heard people saying we painted ourselves into a corner,” GAA president Jarlath Burns tells Gordon. “No, we didn’t. We applied the rules.”
Have Leinster hit their ceiling this season?
The big news on the hurling front on Monday evening was Derek Lyng’s decision to step down as Kilkenny manager after four years in charge, the county having failed to progress beyond the round-robin stages of this year’s provincial competition.
In rugby, Gordon D’Arcy reflects on Leinster’s Champions Cup defeat and reckons that in light of the recruitment constraints Leo Cullen has to deal with, when the dust settles on this season simply reaching the final “will be more impressive than people currently appreciate”.
That will be small consolation, though, for Hugo Keenan. He has now played in four Champions Cup finals and lost them all. “I was gutted,” he tells Michael Scully.
TV Watch: There’s more from the French tennis Open through the day on TNT Sports 4, and from 2.30 this afternoon TNT Sports 3 continues its coverage of the women’s Giro d’Italia.
