Mayo defender Chris Barrett says James Horan’s current squad is the “most competitive” he’s been involved with.
Horan, in his second stint at the helm having stepped down back in 2014 after a four-year stint, has guided Mayo back to the League final after a seven-year absence despite introducing a raft of new players and regularly changing the team from game to game.
While Mayo have tended to be battling relegation come the last day in recent years, they secured their spot in the top flight from an early stage and Sunday’s win over Monaghan sent them to the final after Galway slipped up against Tyrone.
Chris Barrett rubbishes idea Mayo can't win All-Ireland with chunk of Dublin-based players
Barrett said: “I think we used 34 players in the League this year, and this league, guys aren’t getting chances for the sake of it. Guys are playing well in training, they’re getting the opportunity, and I think the first three wins did give us that bit of a platform and confidence as well.
“I think in terms of a squad, it’s the most competitive squad I've been involved in with Mayo. Even in terms of back in the day, when the thing was to get in the first 15 and if you weren’t in the 15 you were disappointed – whereas now it’s to get in the 26.
“There's a real, real clamour to get in the 26 and, in fairness to the guys on the management team, it’s picked nearly every Wednesday night based on training and based on how lads are going.
“There are guys who have started and then the next day they’re out of the squad completely. So, it’s got to a stage where you’re happy if you’re in the match-day squad travelling to the League matches, which is where you want to be really.”
Barrett dismissed their eight-point loss to Dublin on February 23 as “a complete anomaly”.
He added: “I don’t know what happened, both teams. A lot of supporters were looking forward to a good Dublin-Mayo match, thought it would be all guns blazing, but nothing sparked to life, we played poorly, Dublin played poorly, even though they beat us.
“No one really did well, so we didn’t take a whole lot from that game.
“I think we learned a lot from the Galway game, we played well in spurts, played well 15 minutes into the second half, got back to a point, and thought collectively ‘here we go’, but completely lost composure and, of any game, we learned from that one.
“We saw the good things, but we also saw we need to be a lot more composed on the ball, and I think that stood to us then heading down to Kerry.”
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