Mayo may have changed their style and their form isn’t convincing, but they don’t care

“The pressure Colm, honestly, since we got bet by Galway has just been huge……Our job was to do our best, stick in the championship and get to an All Ireland and that’s where we’re at…how’s our form? To be honest with you, our form was good last year when we drew with Dublin in the first game and we were out of the championship after the replay…I don’t really care what our form is like, we’re going into a final here and finals are for winning, ya know?”

That was Mayo’s in form full forward Andy Moran talking on Monday’s GAA Hour Football Show. There’s something different about Mayo this year. There’s an edge to them. They’re not winning pretty but they’re winning and they don’t care how.

Stephen Rochford and the Mayo management have done a great job. They have changed Mayo’s style of play and still reached an All-Ireland final. Everyone talks about their use of a sweeper and that’s an obvious change this year but they have also become more of a kicking team. The running half back line of Keegan, Boyle and Vaughan has been broken up and they now look to hit Andy Moran early and feed off him.

That’s not an easy transition.

When Liam Kearns took over in Laois he tried to change the way we played. Under Micko we played a running game. Not because Micko told us to, he just encouraged us to go out and express ourselves. His message was to move the ball fast and support the man on the ball. Basic enough stuff but two vital components of any gameplan.

Our lads were comfortable playing a handpassing game so that’s the style of play that developed during his four years with us. When Liam came in and asked us to play more direct, there was confusion. It’s not easy to change a player’s natural game and our lads struggled with the new style.

Mayo look like they are struggling at times too, but when it works they are devastating. They are always looking for that long ball now into the full-forward line. Knowing when it’s on and when it’s not is something they need to learn. Andy shows for everything, but players out the field don’t always need to give it. If Andy doesn’t have support and the opposition have bodies back, nothing comes off the long ball and in those scenarios it’s better to hold onto it.

It’s all about getting the balance right. Dublin have that right but they’re playing that kicking game a long time now.

Lee Keegan has been given a man marking job in recent games and he’s doing a fantastic job. I doubt he enjoys it very much but is well capable of doing it. Keegan’s vision and execution of kickpasses isn’t his strongest quality and I wonder whether another reason he’s in the full-back line is because he doesn’t fit into Rochford's vision for what he wants his half backs to do.

While Moran is flourishing, Cillian O’Connor looks to be struggling with this new direct style. He can’t get away from his marker and break like Andy can but he shouldn’t even try. Let Andy make the break, lay it off and then Cillian needs to come alive closer to goal. Bernard Brogan has this role off to perfection. I’d love to see some stats on Bernard's distance covered and his high intensity runs. I remember Gary Neville doing some analysis on Luis Suarez on Monday Night Football and he didn’t run very far in a game, but he made more high intensity runs than any other striker.

Finishers like Bernard and Cillian don’t need to run far or often, but when they do it needs to be explosive and it needs to count.

Using Barry Moran as a sweeper was over-thinking things and shows the more conservative approach adopted under Rochford. Moran played the Colm Cavanagh role, which works so well for Tyrone, but Mayo don’t play the same system as Tyrone. Cavanagh can afford to drop back into defence because he knows the middle third will be packed with Tyrone bodies. Mayo played with five forwards up front and when Moran dropped back he signalled to a teammate to pick up his man but they had their own man to worry about. It led to Tipperary having spare men around the half-back line.

I like the tactic of using a midfielder as a sweeper but Moran headed back into defence too early. Also he played beside or behind the full back line so he was only protecting against a high ball. He offered no protection to balls in front of the Tipp full forward line. When Tipperary didn’t kick it in long Mayo were effectively playing with 14 men.

Mayo have been doing enough to get through games and get the win. It’s not the Mayo we have become used to in the past five years but as Andy Moran said they don’t care. Dublin were poor in the second half against Laois and in the first against Westmeath but they’re not critically analysed for a poor half of football like Mayo seem to be.

Mayo played champagne football in the first half against Kildare and the game was over at half-time. Then they went asleep. They played champagne football against Westmeath for 15 minutes in the first half and the game was over at half-time. Then they went asleep. They played champagne football against Tipperary for 10 minutes in the first half and the game was over at half-time. Then they went asleep.

There is a pattern developing here. When they click they are tearing weaker teams apart and going out of the game.

They beat Tyrone in a real battle. Interestingly they never went asleep in that one and they won’t go asleep against Dublin or Kerry. If they do, it won't be pretty.

On the latest GAA Hour we look back at Mayo-Tipperary and chat to Andy Moran about his incredible, never-ending career. Listen below or subscribe here on iTunes.