Former All-Ireland winning manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice says that flaws in Mayo's attacking structure were flagged in their heavy defeat to Kerry in Tralee on Saturday.
Buoyed by four wins in their opening five games, Andy Moran's side occupied one of the league final spots ahead of the penultimate round.
However, they shipped a sobering loss away to the All-Ireland champions, who were in rampant mood, racking up a score of 2-29 and incredibly missing only one of their 26 attempts on goal across the 70 minutes.
Moran had handed teen sensation Kobe McDonald his first start for the Mayo seniors but their attack failed to function, with their wides tally hitting 15 in the finish.
Mayo's record from two-point range - a glaring weakness in 2025 - has improved dramatically in this campaign, and even in defeat, they still registered five doubles at the weekend.
However, Fitzmaurice believes their biggest issue is their difficulty in creating higher-percentage one-point scores when confronted by a set defence.
In particular, the former Kerry manager identified a tendency to crowd around the D as their biggest vice.
"I do feel the way that they attack when they slow down, they're not generating those kinds of easier scoring opportunities that the likes of a Kerry, or an Armagh or a Donegal do when they get into a set attack situation," Fitzmaurice said on the RTÉ GAA podcast.
"In terms of having plenty of width and depth [in their attacks] and creating space centrally to get at players one-on-one.
"With Mayo in the second half, it looked like there was a lot of bunching centrally around the D once they didn't get a quick attack off.
"You have to give the Kerry backs a lot of credit for that in that they were getting blockdowns and weren't giving away silly frees.
"From a Mayo perspective, I think they can probably work on getting a bit more width, a bit more depth, a bit more structure in terms of setting up easier opportunities.
"They look like they've done a lot of work on certain things. And to be fair, when the games are coming so thick and fast, teams can only work on so many things.
"Mayo have definitely worked on their kicking game and getting the ball inside quickly. And they've worked on their two point shooting. They didn't have much of a two-point game last year.
"But it looks like that when they slow down in a set attack that they haven't done as much work on that yet.
"I think they have plenty of video evidence now from last Saturday evening that everyone bunching centrally - and everyone trying to get on the ball and be the man taking the shot - isn't going to work against the best teams because they'll shut you down."
Former All-Ireland winning manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice says that flaws in Mayo's attacking structure were flagged in their defeat to Kerry.
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) March 16, 2026
'With Mayo in the second half, it looked like there was a lot of bunching centrally around the D once they didn't get a quick attack off.' pic.twitter.com/VfTI2rJ87q
Kerry, by contrast, were masters of efficiency with Saturday's encounter highlighting again how difficult it is to contain their multiple and varied attacking threats.
Trailing 0-09 to 0-04 after a sluggish opening quarter, Kerry methodically tacked on eight scores on the trot against the wind and then cut loose after the break, with David Clifford and Seanie O'Shea raining over two-pointers, while Dylan Geaney gobbled up two goal-scoring chances.
"I just think they're lethal in terms of converting the chances they're getting," says Fitzmaurice.
"Kerry are fortunate that they have a serious quality of player all over the pitch, not just in terms of their forwards. All of the lads are very comfortable skillset-wise. They're very comfortable in the roles that they're asked to play.
"There's a lot of things going on in Kerry at the moment. It's a bit of a perfect storm. Similar to the Jim Gavin era in Dublin.
"You've an excellent management and backroom team. You've outstanding players coming towards the peak of their powers.
"And then as well as that, then you've got serious panel depth. And because of that panel depth, you're getting to give young fellas opportunities and they're coming into a settled team. The likes of Keith Evans, Cillian Trant, Armin Heinrich have all had very positive leagues.
"They're very sure about what they're doing. And when they get a grip on a team and they get those scoring bursts, I think they're conscious of really making it count."
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