The Mayo News

County team could learn from clubs


Sean Rice

IRRESPECTIVE of where their All-Ireland campaigns finish in the coming weeks, one comforting certainty has emerged from the performances of Charlestown and Kiltimagh… and from Westport who were pipped in the Connacht final.
It is that the standard set by our senior team is not a true reflection of the quality of club football in Mayo. There is no comparison. In terms of character these clubs leave county in the shade.
You have only to measure the unremitting determination of all three in their Connacht games to realise the yawning chasm in application between club and county.
Skill, or lack of it is not the issue. It is something deeper and more serious. What’s of real concern is the general image held by the rest of the country of Mayo football as portrayed by our senior teams.
Mayo are equated with failure… not for want of skill, but for want of heart. They are seen as a team with no belly for fight. People who don’t measure up to the mark in their own sphere of activity are sometimes compared to Mayo in Croke Park. And that’s not an easy thing to take when you are a Mayo person.
Nobody outside this county was surprised when Mayo collapsed against Meath in the All-Ireland quarter-final.  They came knowing that Mayo’s is a nice brand of football, but built on a rickety foundation… unable to withstand any real pressure.
So when Meath threw down the gauntlet, Mayo backed off. Ball skill was not the problem; it was their age old failing of lack of collective willpower, as if they were ensnared in some sort of psychological maze.
Astonishingly, no great curb on the inherent flair of individual players is evident at club level.  In terms of leadership and example county players are regarded for the most part by their clubs as icons, keys to success. In county teams such leadership goes missing.
In winning All-Ireland club titles, Crossmolina and Ballina Stephenites refuted any suggestion that Mayo football lacked bottle. Against the odds – shaped perhaps by the general perception of Mayo’s under-achievement – they silenced the biggest of guns, and there was fire and conviction in their performances. Team endeavour at its best.
We all looked to happier days for Mayo following the success of Ballina and Crossmolina. But it didn’t happen. Eleven years ago when Corofin became the first Connacht club to win the national title, it was followed by the county’s first All-Ireland in over thirty years.
The promise of similar success was not realised in Mayo who were stuck deeper in the doldrums. Somehow, the county could not drum up the necessary consistency to reflect the club success.  Pride of parish and the esteem in which they are held in their own place is clearly an unmatched motivating force.
That’s not, of course, peculiar to Mayo. Other clubs have also failed to transmit All-Ireland success to county level. Baltinglass won it one year for Wicklow. Dublin clubs have won it in recent times… although with help from players from outside counties.
Each of the three club teams who have been representing this county at club level these past few weeks have reached degrees of effort and enterprise that everyone hopes would become a feature of football at senior county level.
Losing is not the criterion. Westport lost the Connacht final, but lost no face in defeat because of their magnificent effort. Similar mental power has taken Kiltimagh to an All-Ireland junior semi-final and Charlestown to the Connacht final. If either are beaten in their next games it will not be for want of team effort.
Wish I could say the same for Mayo.


Paddy steps down from his GAA post
A LIFETIME of service to the GAA comes to an end at the Mayo AGM on December 7 when Paddy Muldoon bows to the inexorable onslaught of time. A pillar of loyalty to the GAA in general and Mayo in particular, the Westport-based Aghagower man is one of a bunch who piloted the organisation through historic developments including the remodelling of Croke Park into a world class facility.
For around two score years, Muldoon has been Mayo’s representative on the Central Council. He chaired the development committee of the association, and the players insurance scheme committee. For two terms he also sat on the board of management. And he did not neglect the county. His influence in having €5 million diverted towards the redevelopment of McHale Park was one of his last accomplishments.
The Westport man brought oceans of experience to his role at the heart of the Association. Eight years as chairman of the Mayo board, a further seven or eight as county minor chairman, and before that he was nine years at the helm in Westport GAA Club.
He played minor football for Mayo in 1959, and won a West Junior medal with Islandeady that same year. The following year as a member of West Mayo he added a treasured county senior medal to his collection.
He managed the Westport team that won the county junior championship in 1970, travelling half the country together with Denis Carroll and the late Jackie Gibbons at their own expense collecting players and leaving them back. Later he became a senior selector and then threw all of his substantial effort into administration at club and county level.
The GAA will be the poorer for Paddy’s retirement. But it is in good hands, he says, and will continue to prosper so long as it sticks to its amateur ethos. And he hopes that all players – right down to club level – will benefit from the closer ties between the Association and the GPA.
The insurance of players is becoming more difficult to handle. With over 5000 injury claims every year, costs are huge. Gate percentages and club contribution towards the injury fund are vital if the scheme is to be kept alive, he says.
In taking his well-earned rest Paddy Muldoon hopes that in the GAA’s efforts to cater for the well-being of county senior footballers club players will not be neglected. Without the clubs the Association cannot thrive.

Night to celebrate for Billy and Ann Murphy
THEY came from all corners of the country, and beyond, on Friday night to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of that grand old man of Castlebar football, Billy Murphy, and his wife Annette.
Murphy, the president of Castlebar Mitchels, is a legend in his native town and no aspect of his life was left untouched by those who spoke, including former EU commissioner Padraig Flynn.
It was in the old Pavilion in Westport that beautiful Annette Smith of Mill Street first caught the eye of the Castlebar man. They were married in Knock and through the vicissitudes of life over the past fifty years the two have remained inseparable . . . rearing a family of seven in the process.
While his climb to the position of inspector through the ranks of Telecom and other aspects of his life were the focus of most attention, the football achievements of Billy, who holds a scatter of hard-earned medals, got scant mention.
One indelible tale from his colourful career concerned a rare off-day Billy was experiencing in goal for the Castlebar Post Office team. Trailing by a point in the dying minutes, their opponents were awarded a penalty and Billy was asked to allow someone else stand in goal for the penalty shot.
Billy refused the request, and with characteristic fortitude made a spectacular save . . . then stormed off the pitch berating officials for lack of faith in their goalkeeper.
May he and Annette enjoy many more years of wedded bliss.

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