The Mayo County Board have announced that they are to cancel all Senior County Championship games ahead of the All-Ireland Final next month against either Kerry or Dublin.
Following on from defender Ger Cafferkey's statement about putting the country team first for the next few weeks, the County Board decided on Tuesday evening. This weekend's Intermediate championship games involving Bohola Moy Davitts v Swinford, Westport v Shrule/Glencorrib and Belmullet v Burrishoole have also been postponed due to some of those teams having players on the Mayo panel.
I don't think I've ever expressed an opinion on twitter before #mayogaa pic.twitter.com/BVXfyWin8S
— Gerard Cafferkey (@Caffatron) August 23, 2016
Former Mayo player Billy Joe Padden believes the postponement of this weekend's fixtures was the right decision. Speaking to Newstalk Sport he added that the decision may help Mayo get an edge over their opponents.
"Mayo have had injury problems in the past going into an All-Ireland Final. You can't guarantee no injuries in club games or training, but I think it gives them the best chance to prepare properly for the All-Ireland Final."
"It gives them an extra week. This week would have been all recovery. If there had been club games this weekend, they players would have had to do recovery again next week. That leaves you with only two or three sessions ahead of the All-Ireland Final where you could really get some solid work in terms of preparation for that game."
The clear intentions of the county panel has forced the County Board's hand, but Padden does not think that it will add more pressure to the squad.
"I think that the players are not that concerned with what the outside forces think of them. They just want to given themselves the best chance to win. They have so much of experience of being in these big games. They probably learned an awful lot from the last five or six years when they reached finals and semi-finals."
The All-Ireland Final takes place on September 18th. There are over three-and-a-half weeks for the squad to prepare without any distractions as they look for their first All-Ireland title since 1951.
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