In a season that failed to deliver for Mayo, one stat from 2025 jumped off the page to Andy Moran from afar.
In six championship outings last year they raised just two orange flags – David Clifford managed more in the All-Ireland final alone – and speaking ahead of the Allianz Football League, it was an area the new manager said would be a particular focus for his team.
That rhetoric was backed up by the numbers. Across the four divisions, only three sides scored more than Mayo's 25 two-pointers (Meath and Clare on 27 and Wexford with 29) and that shooting mantra was clearly evident in the opening 35 minutes of the Connacht quarter-final victory over London in Ruislip.
The Green and Red opted to play with the stiff breeze and while they retired to the half-time break with a healthy 11-point lead, the erratic shooting was as much a feature as the accuracy from long range.
They may have raised seven orange flags, but the almost shoot-on-sight policy with the wind at their backs was evidence of a side trying to force the issue, according to the manager.
"We tried to squeeze something that wasn’t there when we could have ran in and kicked it over the bar and got us to 23, 24 points at half time and it would have been comprehensive," he told RTÉ Sport.
"It’s something we didn’t get enough of last year (two-pointers), so it was important that we put an emphasis on it this year, but it is hard to pull the handbrake up when you have told them to open the space and take it on.
"Was it an over-eagerness? I think there was."
Next up for Mayo is a semi-final date with Roscommon or New York who meet in the Bronx on Sunday.
With debutants Cian McHale and Hugh O’Loughlin showing well, and the likes of the O’Connor brothers, Cillian and Diarmuid, Stephen Coen and Tommy Conroy getting minutes off the bench, it was a satisfactory start to the championship as far as Moran is concerned.
"It was Robbie Hennelly’s first championship start since 2022, Michael Plunkett’s first start since 2022," he said.
"We had two debutants and Fenton Kelly made his second championship start. We got a lot of boxes ticked, and we have boys still to come back.
"Conor Loftis is back training, so too Enda Hession and Donnacha McHugh. The squad is getting bigger and we have the Under-20s (Kobe McDonald and Darragh Beirne) to come back too."
London manager Michael Maher said that the positive performance could, in part, be attributed to the fact that the bulk of the squad has been together for three years now and the conditioning work is paying off.
"I thought it was a great performance today," he said. "I still feel we need an U20 team because there's an awful gap between U17 and junior inter-county football, but the structures are improving here slowly all the time.
"The one thing I said when I took the job was, if there was a London-born lad that was good enough, we'd give them a chance. What we're having to do at the moment is still probably fast-track their development by four or five years, trying to cram it into one or two.
"The more London-born lads you have in the changing room, the less turnover you have. It's not rocket science. But there's just a really good blend there of youth and experienced London-born lads, Irish-born lads and they're all on the same page and that is the main thing."
Watch the Camogie League finals, Clare v Dublin (12.15pm) and Waterford v Galway (2.15pm) on Sunday from 12pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport from 2pm on RTÉ Radio 1
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