Galway advanced through the first round of the Connacht Football Champions thanks to their 1-12 to 0-12 win over Mayo at the weekend.
A tight game, with a late Johnny Harney goal secure the win for the Tribesman, saw Mayo fail to overcome the 31st minute sending off of Diarmuid O'Connor. While the sending off may have been a crucial element in the result, former Galway footballer Ray Silke has noted the lack of impact Mayo had off the bench as another contributing factor.
Speaking on OTB this evening, Silke said "Galway have a panel now that they haven't had before, and that's even without a few of the Corofin lads who haven't committed to it which was their decision, a poor decision in my eyes not to come into the panel, but they have options and options make all the difference".
"The team that have won the All-Ireland the last three years are Dublin, why? Because in last year's All-Ireland final when they needed manpower they had players to bring on".
Silke claimed that Mayo will need to find players to change games from the bench if they're to compete with the rest of the nation's top teams, as their current options are less than inspiring.
"Mayo brought on James Durkin, he's a good player but I thought he was a little out of his depth. Cian Hanley, I don't know when Cian Hanley played for Mayo before, Brendan Harrisson came on then just back form injury. The top teams will have five or six subs that are just as good pushing hard, so I'd be more confident if they had that".
"Donegal have four or five guys that won All-Irelands in 2012 and now they have a new bunch of players, that would be my concern for Mayo unfortunately. The minors got beaten by 14 or 15 points at the weekend, they're doing poorly".
Silke went on to question the future of Mayo football, as their underage sides are underperforming and the senior side hasn't been producing fresh faces to replace those who will soon be coming close to the end of their inter-county career.
"I'd be concerned that when this Mayo team that's done phenomenally over the last eight or nine years, when guys likes of Keith Higgins, Colm Boyle, or maybe Seamie O'Shea go, and Tom Parsons now looking like he's going to be out for a year, when they go I'd be concerned for Mayo and from a Connacht or footballing perspective. Are the youth there to come in to fill in for those guys, at the moment from what we've seen at the Minor and Under-21 level they're not".
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