Mayo set to peak and send Connacht champions packing

ALL-IRELAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
QUARTER-FINALS

Kerry v Galway
Premier Sports & RTE2, 2pm Sunday
Roscommon v Mayo
Premier Sports & RTE2, 4pm Sunday

Mayo's team bus will probably travel through Cork, get stuck in traffic in Cavan and pick up a puncture in Carlow before finally getting to Croke Park. They love nothing more than making life hard for themselves. The tougher the task, the more they thrive.

It seems Mayo are at their best when put in the stickiest of situations. They crashed out of Connacht with a poor display against Galway. They were deplorable for long periods of their duel with Derry and needed extra-time to get over the line. They were abysmal in the first half of their clash with Clare but exploded from the traps after the break and put the game to bed in ten minutes.

It looked like it would be plain sailing halfway through the second half of their Cork showdown when they led by six points but Mayo did what Mayo do best and conceded two goals which meant they once again needed extra-time to book this ticket.

They have looked lethargic in 2017 but a return to Croke Park could see Mayo return to something near their best and Stephen Rochford's charges can be expected to produce their best performance of the year in today's All-Ireland quarter-final and defy the three-point handicap.

Roscommon are the Connacht champions but they may have peaked in the provincial decider whereas this could be the day when Mayo finally peak. It has been a while coming but everything looks in place for last year's All-Ireland finalists to finally show their true colours.

Kevin McStay has made no secret of the fact that he has thrown all his eggs into one basket this year and that basket was the Connacht final earlier this month. They only had to beat Leitrim to get there and they were able to aim everything at Galway. It worked but the knock-on effect of that could be a below-par effort.

Enda Smith was the star of the show in the win over Galway and his bursts from midfield posed all sort of problems. He deservedly won the man-of-the-match award but his card is marked now and Seamus O'Shea or Tom Parsons surely won't allow him the same freedom.

Diarmuid and Ciaran Murtagh are Roscommon's deadly duo but Mayo have the capacity to deal with both of those and don't be surprised to see Lee Keegan deployed in a man-marking role on one of them.

Roscommon have not won a championship match at Croke Park since 1980 against Armagh and this clash could be one step too far for McStay's men.

Mayo are chasing their own piece of history too as they are attempting to reach six All-Ireland semi-finals in a row for first the first time in the county’s history, having also hit five between 1906 and 1910.

Cillian O'Connor has never been in better form and Aidan O'Shea is coming to the boil nicely. Andy Moran looks sharp and Mayo's conversion rate against Cork was very impressive indeed.

Expect a big performance from Diarmuid O'Connor. His pace and power is tailor-made for Croke Park and it could be the day when he unleashes his potential. Odds of 14-1 about him for man of the match are about four to six points too big. He's lethal when on song and has tormented Roscommon underage teams for much of the last decade.

Now is the time for Mayo to show what they are made of. They are fancied to win by at least four points. Let's hope they don't make life hard for themselves this time.

The first of the All-Ireland quarter-finals at Croke Park sees league and Munster champions Kerry take on Galway and this game has goals written all over it.

Galway scored 12 goals in seven group games in Division 2 of the league and they managed to find the net four times against Donegal last Saturday evening. Who would have expected that beforehand?

Johnny Heaney pushed forward from midfield to get two of those and the Tribesmen have lots of talent up front. Kerry’s weakest line is their full-back line and the Tribesmen could exploit that.

The same could be said of Kerry. James O’Donoghue and Paul Geaney have the potential to do serious damage to a Galway full-back line which look awful in their Connacht final loss to Roscommon and, while the Kingdom found the net only once in their wins over Clare and Cork, they look sure to be more clinical on this occasion.

There should be lots of goalmouth action and is it worth taking the 5-2 about four of more goals in the game. Don't be afraid to get greedy and have a nibble on five or more match goals at 6-1 either. This could be a goalfest.

Recommendations
Mayo -3
3pts 10-11 general
D O'Connor man of the match in Roscommon v Mayo
1pt 14-1 BoyleSports
Over 3.5 goals in Kerry v Galway
2pts 5-2 Coral, Paddy Power
Over 4.5 goals in Kerry v Galway
1pt 6-1 Paddy Power