Cult Mayo star proved undoubted class day before Galway defeat

How Mayo could have done with him at MacHale Park last Sunday.

Last season, we flagged how Mayo fans were screaming out for Shane Nally to get more of a run in Stephen Rochford's team. This championship season, with Mayo already on the ropes and facing into another slew of challenges in the qualifiers, Nally is banging on the door again. He is a cult hero out west and possesses one of the sweetest left foots you'll see in the game. Ever since 2009, Nally's name has been mentioned as a potential star for the Mayo side. Having won a Connacht title as a minor back in 2008, he has been on the radar for the senior side. Unfortunately it has just been as a distant blip. Last year, though, Rochford gave him a decent run in the NFL as he featured six times. That included starts in the wins over Tyrone and Donegal that secured the county's Division One status. Once championship summer began, though, Nally was shunted down the queue. He did not get a single minute against Sligo, Galway, Derry, Clare or Cork. Nor did he in the All-Ireland quarter final clash with Roscommon but he was sprung from the bench in the one-side replay, scoring two points in his five-minute cameo. That was it as he did not see action against Kerry or Dublin as Mayo fell short in the final again. Nally got a start in midfield against Kerry during this year's league campaign but he always seems to be surplus to requirements when the summer rolls around. There was no space for him in Rochford's 26-man squad for the Connacht clash against Galway, last Sunday. Mayo struggled to get any sort of attacking rhythm and were not helped by the red card shown to Diarmuid O'Connor. Cillian O'Connor and Conor Loftus kicked four frees and there were only eight Mayo points from play as they lost 1-12 to 0-12. Feast your eyes, then, on the composed, classy scoring display of Nally for Garrymore against Westport less than 24 hours before that crushing Mayo loss. Five points scored and each one a peach. Perhaps with Tom Parsons a long-term absentee for Mayo, Nally could yet find his way back into the Mayo squad for the qualifier fixture(s) that await.