The Mayo News

FOOTBALL There will be no time for the Mayo U-21 team to rest on their laurels as they prepare for next Saturday’s Connacht semi-final and the visit of a well-drilled Roscommon. Connelly calls for home improvements


PREVIEW
Mike Finnerty


THERE will be no time for the Mayo U-21 team to rest on their laurels this week as they prepare for next Saturday’s Connacht FC semi-final and the visit of a well-drilled Roscommon outfit.
Speaking to The Mayo News after last weekend’s nail-biting win over Galway, Mayo’s joint-manager Noel Connelly admitted that his team will need to show a massive improvement if they are to knock out the Rossies.
“We were delighted to get the win last weekend but I think we should have been further ahead really at the end,” he said. “We missed a lot of chances, a lot of frees, and they could have cost us on another day.
“Our shot selection was very poor at times and our free-taking was bad on the day too. We had scored 1-4 by half-time but really should have had another 1-4 by that stage.
“Nerves were probably an issue too. It was a big day for an awful lot of our lads, some of them were playing at this level for the first time, so it was understandable they were a bit nervous.
“It was a typical first round game, scrappy and with plenty of mistakes, just like the last few years,” he added. “But the important thing is that we improve as we go on.
“Obviously, Roscommon haven’t had a competitive game yet so all we know is that this group won an All-Ireland minor title three years ago. They’ll probably be favourites to beat us and it’s going to be a big ask for us. But if we put in a good, honest sixty minutes we’ll be there or thereabouts.”
Galway asked Mayo plenty of hard questions last Saturday and Roscommon will do the same. Their squad is backboned by the All-Ireland minor winning team of 2006 and they have been earmarked for great things again at this grade.
Manager Michael Ryan will have county seniors Donie Shine and David Keenan at midfield while Conor Devaney and Fintan Cregg are key men in attack.
Noel Connelly, Pat Holmes and Micheál Collins will be looking for big games from their big names, especially the likes of their five Mayo senior panellists.
“We knew Galway would be tough and strong and they never died away. But in the second half, against the wind, our half-back line was excellent and our big guys stood up and were counted.
“I thought Donal Vaughan and Kevin McLoughlin were excellent and Tom Parsons was very good. He blotted out Paul Conroy and that was a huge boost for us. Everybody worked hard when the chips were down. We don’t have a lot of big men in our team but they didn’t give an inch.”
Mayo senior manager John O’Mahony only used one of the four U-21 panellists available to him last Sunday against Kerry; Aidan O’Shea coming on during the final quarter. However, Kevin McLoughlin did not travel with the senior squad to Kerry after picking up a groin injury early in Saturday’s U-21 match. He now faces a race against time to be fit for the semi-final.
“Kevin had an outstanding game, he was our man of the match, but we were actually thinking about taking him off during the first half,” revealed Connelly. “He aggravated the injury early in the game but played on and did really, really well. Hopefully he’ll recover in time for next weekend.”

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