Seán Moran talks to Austin O'Malley following Sunday's battling performance.
Mayo completed what has been a most encouraging NFL campaign to date by topping the Division One A table on Sunday and qualifying for the weekend's semi-finals where they will face neighbours Galway. Given the relatively late arrival of the county's new management this was a fair achievement but the circumstances of Sunday's qualification were particularly gratifying.
Firstly the team had to avoid defeat against All-Ireland champions Tyrone, a side that had been coming into form and whose manager Mickey Harte is on the record as favouring extended league runs to ensure a competitive build-up to the championship.
Secondly the battling result was achieved with a number of first-choice players still returning, including Ciarán McDonald whose comeback was delayed because of a finger injury and Trevor Mortimer who appeared for the closing stages after a season in dry dock.
Another to catch the eye was corner forward Austin O'Malley who has endured a difficult league during which he has struggled to shoot the sort of scoring totals that marked his belated introduction to the championship last year, including five points from play against Kerry in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
"I missed about 12 weeks of football at the start when Mickey (Moran, Mayo manager) came in. I broke a couple of fingers and had a back injury," he explains.
"Thankfully the lads believed in me and kept with me, and I'm beginning to turn the corner."
On Sunday he took two points in a low-scoring, intense match and intercepted Tyrone's last chance - Stephen O'Neill's quick free - for the score that would have pushed them into the semi-finals.
"I decided to drop back," says O'Malley, "because I knew at that stage the main thing was to try and clog it up and try and cut the space out for them, as they had done by dropping Dooher back. It looked like he was trying to play it to the centre and I came across. Lucky enough I got a hand to it."
Although the match turned ominously against Mayo for most of the second and third quarters, they fought a way back into contention.
"We never doubted ourselves," he says. "We knew we were as good as Tyrone. The main thing, as John and Mickey and Kieran alluded to, was to keep calm. We knew we had the talent to match Tyrone. It was just a matter of staying calm.
"We never give up and we believe in ourselves."
The reward for advancing in the league brings them up against Galway, who they defeated in the competition final five years ago. But O'Malley knows that for all the encouragement the current success brings, April isn't the time to be overly excited.
"There's a huge tradition between Mayo and Galway but the main thing is not to get too carried away. It's great to see the fans enjoying it but we have to keep our feet on the ground and knuckle down again and get our heads right. It's going to be a long summer hopefully."
