It's take two on Saturday as Dublin and Mayo go head to head again for the Sam Maguire Cup. Ahead of the game, GAA.ie sits down with Mayo dual star Keith Higgins and get the views of the Ballyhaunis man on facing the Dubs for a second time in the space of two weeks as the Connacht side look to win their first All-Ireland since 1951 #DUBvMAYO
By Cian O'Connell
Since the spring Keith Higgins’ life has been dominated by matches. Mayo’s back door journey was sprinkled with high stakes games, while the Nicky Rackard Cup success enjoyed by the hurlers was spearheaded by Higgins.
The next item on the agenda is an All Ireland Final replay, but Higgins’ body and mind is ready for the impending Dublin challenge. “Not too bad actually, I think I only played two league games and the injury probably helped,” Higgins replied when asked about his current health and fitness.
“I came back in April or May probably a bit fresher. I think at this stage now the like of Barry Solon and the strength and conditioning boys have us in good shape so you kind of have to trust what they do will pay off for us when it comes to this stage. The body is not too bad so far so as long as it holds out for another few weeks we’ll be alright.”
Mayo delivered a gutsy performance when it mattered most of all in the drawn All Ireland Final, but Higgins feels there is further room for Green and Red improvement.
“I suppose sometimes we’d be more critical of ourselves more than anything. I still don’t think we played well to be honest with you and we probably played alright in some patches.
“The performance isn’t as good as what we’d expect it to be and it hasn’t hit the heights we think it can hit.
“Even the Tipperary game, we probably only played well for 20 minutes so again it’s just a matter of trying to improve the areas we let ourselves down in, there’s a lot of room for improvement there. That should be the big focus now, trying to get that step up again to the next level of performance.”
Higgins was hugely encouraged by how Patrick Durcan, Brendan Harrison, and Diarmuid O’Connor performed against Dublin.
Keith Higgins continues to impress for Mayo.
“Paddy and Harry in the backline anyway, they were probably two of our best performers and it was their first All-Ireland final so sometimes a bit can be made out of experience and sometimes you just need a fella in there who has no fear to just go to deliver a performance like that, so you just hope the next day they’ll do the exact same thing.
“Even the likes of Diarmuid and Stephen Coen, you are hoping that the under-21 experience might stand to them as well, but it’s a completely different kettle of fish.
“Sometimes you just don’t know how players are going to react on All-Ireland final day so you can plan and prepare all you want but you just hope for the best sometimes as well.”
A draw on the third Sunday of September brought a blend of feelings. “You don’t know how to think coming off the pitch,” Higgins admits.
“Whether you are disappointed you didn’t win or relieved to have another chance; it’s a bit of a mixture really.
“That evening when you are meeting the family and friends you don’t know how to react, but the more you sit down you think ‘yeah, we have another shot at it here.’ We have a lot to work on and improve on, but we have to try to take that as a positive.
“I thought defensively we played well enough. Obviously the goal chances they created would have to be an issue for us I thought a few lads really showed up the last day, I thought we played well.
“Probably some chances Dublin didn’t take that they’d be upset with, but I think teams will think they didn’t perform overly well and have another shot at it now.”
Keith Higgins impressed for Mayo hurlers who won the Nicky Rackard Cup in June.
Half an hour into the first game what was going through Higgins mind when Dublin’s only scores had been two Mayo own goals? “What was I thinking? I remember looking up at the scoreboard, they had two goals and no points,” Higgins recalls.
“I was thinking that is a bit strange alright. I thought we defended very well at that stage. Obviously you have to break it down and look at the goal chances that they got.
“They came off our boys, but you have to wonder how they got them chances. They did create the goal chances and they created another one where David (Clarke) had to make a good save from it.
“The goals were unfortunate, but they did create those chances. You have to be critical of yourself in them situations about how they did it.
“It is kind of strange when they have no points on the board after 30 minutes and five minutes later you go in at half-time five points down. It was a strange one, but it was that type of game when you're thinking anything can happen.”
Mayo and Dublin’s recent history is laced with dynamic and dramatic tussles, but Higgins reckons that the drawn game ‘was a bit different’ from previous encounters.
“It was a bit different to be honest from other Dublin games for the simple fact that conditions didn't allow it to be the up and down, 100 mile an hour - the way the other Dublin games were.
“It probably slowed it down a small bit and it was probably a bit more physical than other games aswell due to the weather and all of that.” Who will prevail in the replay?
