Conor Mortimer still knows where the posts are
The serial tweeter, made his first appearance for Mayo since 2010 against Longford on Sunday. He came off the bench with 20 minutes to go and with his first serious involvement set up a point for Darren Coen. He followed it up with a great score from out on the left and another from a free. He also kicked a wild wide in the middle of his two points. Love him, hate him or are just indifferent to him, it's going to be interesting.
There is no standing off in the FBD
Sunday's game was full of hard hitting and neither side shirked the physicality. Barry Moran at the end of the game landed a huge fair shoulder on one of the Leitrim players which left the receiver a little dazed and confused. His club-mate Danny Kirby who was making his debut meated out one or two other big hits during the game to show he wasn't afraid of the step up to senior inter-county level.
Positivity is key for Mayo
As the crowds left Ballyhaunis, Cian O'Neill took the Mayo players for their warm down. During the whole session, the new man in the Mayo back-room team was consistently giving positive messages to those who played and even the subs who didn't get on. The collective good and effort was the key in O'Neill's message to the players.
Refereeing performances is still a topic of debate
A good refereeing performance, usually means that their performance goes by unnoticed. However after Sunday's game there was plenty of talk that Michael Duffy was too whistle happy and overly fussy in his decision making. It's early days for the officials too in the season, hopefully we'll see more of the kind of game where the referees part passes by us as the year goes on.
Don't always trust the program
Those who made the trip to Ballyhaunis from either Shrule or Glencorrib, would have been delighted to see that Conor Mortimer is still playing for them according to the program, despite his much publicised transfer to Parnells in Dublin. Leitrim were also down to have two number 12s playing with both Paul Brennan and Gerry Hickey having it on their back according to the program. It could have gone unnoticed only for Leitrim's first point coming from the boot or Paul Brennaan or was it Gerry Hickey. But it was still great to have a program for a game at this early stage of the season.
