After a disappointing night in Castlebar against Dublin, James Horan will not be overly concerned about Mayo's mixed start to their defence of the National Football League title, stated Anthony Moyles on Monday's OTB AM.
With one point each from their opening league games last weekend, it was clear on Saturday evening that Mayo intended to capitalise upon any potential complacency on Dublin's part.
In the end, Dessie Farrell's second competitive game in charge of the reigning All-Ireland winners was won with relative ease.
"I would say very, very little," claimed former Meath captain Anthony Moyles in response to a question regarding what Mayo had possibly learned from this outing.
"I think they kind of had that mindset where they would try to get physical and lay down a marker and get in Dublin's face.
"After Aidan O'Shea kicked the first score he was trying to gee up the crowd and the players and there was a bit of, 'Let's make this a war!'
"But as soon as the sending-off happened, that was it and the game was done and dusted."
🔴 RED CARD ❌
A straight red card for Mayo...
Was it the right decision?#GAA #MatchNightLive pic.twitter.com/EMKa3M9qLU— eir Sport (@eirSport) February 1, 2020
With Mayo leading on a scoreline of 0-3 to 0-1, Jordan Flynn was sent-off for a collision with Dublin's John Small after only 13-minutes of play.
"That sending off was harsh," suggested Moyles. "Yes, it was high, but I thought it was harsh and it just killed the game."
Indeed, by the mid-way point, Dublin had drawn level with Mayo and by full-time, they would sit a comfortable six points clear.
"You could see James Horan's frustration on the sideline," claimed Moyles. "I'd say they were disappointed because really they didn't lay a glove on Dublin after the sending-off.
"If you look over the last couple of years though, Mayo haven't ever done that great at the start. They've always been in this similar type of boat.
"They've always a slow start but kick in around the last two to three games in the league and that keeps them right.
"James Horan is not going to panic, he's not that kind of guy. He'll methodically look at this, and even if could get two or three guys throughout the league, he'll see that as a massive positive.
You can watch a full recap of the weekend's biggest games of Gaelic football with Anthony Moyles here.
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