Seán Moran talks to Kevin McStay about how Mayo are successfully using basketball skills and tactics

The impact of news that Mayo's Ronan McGarrity might miss this afternoon's All-Ireland semi-final replay against Fermanagh had a surprising impact on assessments of the team's chances. Like team selector Liam McHale, McGarrity is primarily a basketball player, returned from a basketball scholarship in the US and now playing with Ballina Longnecks.

This is his first year in the county football team but already he has had a major impact. The influence of basketball on football extends beyond crossover players like McHale, McGarrity or Kildare's Dermot Earley. Increasingly tactics and patterns of play are borrowed from the indoor game.

Former Mayo All Star and now RTÉ analyst Kevin McStay is well versed in both sports, having trained Ballina in basketball. Below he analyses the influences that have been imported into football.

There is a sense that in basketball possession is better protected and used more effectively. Liam McHale has said that he would like Mayo to absorb that facility of maximising use of possession. Tactically how does that translate?

"In basketball the priority is getting the ball as quickly and as economically to the danger area, which is the offensive court. You get it into the key area with as few passes as possible. That's a huge part of it.

"Depending on who's playing well, who's shooting well, who's using well, basketballers like to get it to the key man rather than spreading the play without any particular plan.

"They're more tactical, always thinking 'why am I doing this?' And defensively? They've a natural inclination to defend and cover when they lose the ball. They back-track very naturally. You saw Ronan McGarrity the last day cropping up on the 20-metre line available to take the ball off a corner back and move play on again. They're used to a lot of transition from offence to defence.

"In a basketball match they're under their own basket one minute and back up again. They're used to what the soccer fellas call 'box to box'. They're very good at it - McHale was brilliant at it.

"They're great tacklers. That's one of the huge things they bring to the game - they never foul in the tackle. Once you put the ball into motion, into a hop or a solo, that's when they're at their best.

"They've very fast hands because that's the only way you can steal the ball in basketball, when someone is dribbling and the ball hits the floor. Because of their height they've longer hands than other fellas tend to have."

Is it fair to say that you feel basketball players are more mentally disciplined in terms of taking orders?

"Take McGarrity on Seán Cavanagh in the Tyrone match.

"He was given that job of getting tight on him. Liam (McHale) would have gone through exactly what they were looking for. They wanted him to sacrifice whatever his natural game might be just to do this job.

"Ego wouldn't get in the way of doing that because in the (basketball) league he'd be picking up the American guys all the time - he's now at that level.

"That's one of the great things about basketball players that I've always found: they've no problem with specific roles you want them to do. Their natural inclination is that whatever the coach wants you to do, you do."

Are there other areas of influence that you can identify?

"Another point and Liam would be hugely into this because he's predominantly a basketball player - basketball has a huge respect for numbers. When GAA fellas finish a match and go for a beer and discuss who played well and sometimes they can't actually say why beyond things like, 'he was on the ball a lot'.

But basketballers when they're talking about a match are into numbers. How many turnovers had I? How many assists had I? How many steals? What did I score? How many fouls? That dictates how they played among themselves and their peers.

"They'd be very much aware of a wide or that two points I scored or I put in three tackles or I've lost possession five times. They mind the ball very preciously when they have it in order to keep those numbers the right numbers.

"I've been mooching around Croke Park in recent times on broadcast work down around the pitch where the managers and coaches are. They actually get their numbers in real time now. As they're going in at half-time they have them. Some of the northern teams are printing them off in the tunnel. It's a growing part of the scene in football now.

"That's straight from basketball. I can remember when I worked with Ballina, hearing the coach at half-time going through the numbers with the players. It's probably no surprise that Eugene Young (the Ulster Council's high performance director for football), who has pioneered a lot of this, was a basketball international."

But investing so much time in a second sport must have an impact on a player's football, a point that's been made about Ronan McGarrity.

"Basketball is a very physical and tough game and people don't often realise that. So he wouldn't be naïve coming into big matches about the sort of lengths people go to to win.

"From that point of view I think he'll be fine. The problem I saw was had he enough football played to train in his feet and get used to the natural tempo of a football match. I watch a lot of club football but I've only seen Ronan play twice and that was in recent matches for Mayo. That's because he plays basketball.

"That's always going to be a problem. It was for Liam all his career. He's not going to be able to spend the time playing league matches and 15 or 16 club matches and 10 challenges. He won't have that body of football played. But that's just going to be part and parcel of it."

Hasn't that led to doubts about dual players' commitment?

"That argument has gone on and on and on since Liam McHale's involvement.

"What GAA people in Mayo tend to forget is that these fellas are first and foremost basketballers. That is probably their number one love.

"I'm just grateful to get what we can out of them."