HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES Mayo’s Tom Parsons lets rip with a piledriver that flew into the top corner of the net against Kildare last Sunday in Newbridge. Pic: Adrian Melia
Burying teams is not our forte
Kevin McStayTHE result was not unexpected but the manner of the win was. In fact it was a thrashing and I could afford to wander away from the radio, fix a nice cup of tea and return at my ease happy in the knowledge the two points were in the bag. I don’t suppose players or management saw it quite like that!
But Mayo were home and hosed at the break and the way they set about victory, after a most dreadful start, was a sign the team is merging ever tighter as the weeks and training sessions pass by.
A few weeks ago we bemoaned the looseness of our defensive work in the earlier rounds of the league and felt it was an area in urgent need of correction and improvement. The totals conceded were simply too big, but last Sunday our backs togged in a mean mood and with only seconds remaining had almost completed a good day’s work. But the late John Doyle peno’ could hurt us yet and it exposed another flaw long associated with Mayo teams.
Why do we find it so hard to bury teams? When on top and dominating we hit the exhibition button and trouble often ensues. Look at Armagh and how they faced down Roscommon a few weeks ago. The great Kerry teams of the 70s and 80s went out of their way to beat you so badly you might hate to ever return. Mayo found themselves in the box seat with half an hour to go and they must know score scoring averages will be a factor yet; things really are that tight.
It seems it is impossible to play the perfect game but this well-deserved NFL win is as good as Mayo have been this year. And like a few of the recent performances, it was well flagged — this team continues to improve.
Players are bedding in week by week and the positions causing concern are being attended to. My own sense is that the full-back line remains a work in progress with options and performances on all the other lines growing by the day.
So, there is certainly work to be done and the next two matches promise to have a championship tempo to them. Galway at home is a real decider in terms of the immediate future. A win here can open up the division and put us in with an outside chance of the final; defeat will point us towards a dogfight at the bottom of the table.
The tables indicate the final round, when we travel to Tyrone, will tell us all but that was known some months ago when the draws were announced.
There is a simple truth about the modern leagues (those leagues which are played in the one calendar year) and it is this: all the teams are trying because they must get ready for the championship.
The transition from old Mayo to new version under JOM is almost complete and only a few boxes remain unticked. In a few weeks this new side built by a new Mayo management will know exactly where they sit in terms of the national pecking order. Galway at home and Tyrone away will certainly see to that.
McDonald’s future has the grapevine humming
I DON’T suppose you have to be a back surgeon to understand the health bulletins concerning one Ciaran McDonald do not bode well. Indeed, his county manager is a careful communicator when it comes to such matters and I have yet to detect any optimism in any of his recent announcements. The state of our marquee players back is a topic of public house discussion whenever football is on the agenda. And no doubt it might pop up outside of the sporting spectrum too.
The good news is he is back playing football for his club Crossmolina and his opening effort went well. But the bad news is club football and county football are simply two different sports. The pace, intensity and hitting is on another scale all together and you must have the full of your health to survive.
The recent retirements of Kevin O’Neill and David Brady will form part of the backdrop to McDonald’s next move; they played together for many seasons and on underage teams too. He might feel it is best if he walks/hobbles away now. It could be argued all three of these top players were the anchor tenants of the north Mayo version of a footballing ‘Bermuda Triangle’. Teams entering the three-cornered land encompassing Ballina, Knockmore and Crossmolina rarely emerged unscathed and this was due in no small part to the sheriffs mentioned above.
The debate now has moved on to whether Mayo still need a Ciaran McDonald and that of course depends on your opinion. An old military colleague used to remark that ‘one man’s field of fire is another man’s field of corn’ and indeed this is true. This is year two of a new Mayo project and McD was ‘Minister for Sporting Art and Culture’ in a previous government.
But if you remove the injury doubts there can only be one call. Every team needs at least one player of his calibre and until bigger and better presents, surely he must be enticed back to the fold.
John O’Mahony has some previous experience in this area of coaxing and cajoling. The superb Kevin Walsh of Galway was a broken down footballer lurching from one injury-ruined season to another when JOM arrived in Galway. I imagine he was close to calling it a day when O’Mahony was announced as the new manager; players tend to walk away when the old staff moves on.
But through careful rehab and training, strengthening and the best medical care, Walsh went on to dominate the football landscape and end up a two-time All Ireland winner.
So, it can be done and the right people are in place to work out a solution. It all depends now on appetite and enthusiasm and so the decision is very much over to the player himself. The Ides of March have passed and the championship prep will begin in earnest now. He will need to decide soon. But the thought of him racing around Croke Park again, a la his salad days of 2004/2006, would be something to witness. Let’s hope it all turns out well for him.
