Sean Rice
A SPANKING new line-up is the hope of many as James Horan commences his tenure in charge of Mayo with a home Allianz League test on Saturday evening. Given the abject failure of Mayo in last year’s championship it’s not an unreasonable wish. Neither, however, could the exclusion of all experienced players from his squad be regarded as a realistic way of repairing the battered confidence of Mayo football.
Intent on building a team of workers, the hands of Horan were all over his line-outs in the FBD League.
Substance rather than candyfloss football was the principal quality of his new recruits, and no player who takes the field against Down on Saturday will be incognisant of what the manager expects of him.
It will, however, take more than the second half of their FBD challenge (against Pat Fallon’s GMIT), forty minutes of their tilt with Roscommon, and the overwhelming nature of their win over Leitrim for that force of will to eventually characterise their football.
No one would be sorry to see Mayo shed that image of inferiority that consumes them in major showdowns. And if it were only a new work ethic that James Horan forged in Mayo football it would be an enduring monument to his tenure.
No doubt the management team would have preferred to have last Sunday to themselves to plan for their opening match of the league with All-Ireland finalists Down at Castlebar. Instead they had to travel to Ballinamore to fulfil the last of their FBD commitments, which had been deferred earlier because of the snow . . . and from which they learned little.
The scattering of many of the county’s regular players throughout other college teams provided management with a fair opportunity to experiment. Many new faces speckled their opening game with GMIT . . . bright young faces untouched as yet by defeatist influences, pursuing a dream that has eluded so many who have gone before them.
None was a disappointment in the experiment but the performance as a whole was sluggish and lethargic . . . as January standards tend to be.
Jolted out of their seasonal lethargy, however, by a piece of straight talking, no doubt, they shaped up spiritedly after the break, and eventually wore down the enthusiasm of a lively GMIT side.
The leadership of Ronan McGarrity was instrumental in their gaining control. The Ballina man was somewhat of a disappointment last season, and needs to assert his talent to stave off the challenge to his position by a number of young midfield pretenders.
Having set aside an insipid first half against GMIT, McGarrity looked every bit the master midfielder after the break, with a performance that was mature and positive. At his best, he is among the top. But his best has been a rare commodity in the last year or so.
Against Roscommon, Horan provided opportunities for Barry Moran and James Kilcullen to show their mettle in the middle of the field. And they, too, featured well following indifferent first halves.
Of the newcomers, two stood out . . . David Killeen at full-back and Cathal Freeman at centre-forward. Pitted against Roscommon’s giant full-forward Donal Shine, Killeen passed the test admirably, and laid claim to further experiment in that vital position.
So, too, with Freeman, who added a notable appetite for work to his speed off the mark, his strength in possession and his intuitive deliveries with left and right feet. Both players offer confidence for the new Mayo that Horan would like to build.
One game was all they were given to impress, however, and with the Allianz league now on top of them, the selectors must decide who they will run against newly-promoted Down.
After Sunday’s joust with Leitrim, Richie Feeney, Alan Freeman, Jason Gibbons and chief scorer Mark Ronaldson of the regulars, who has marked up 2-14 in the three FBDs, could be in their plans.
The All-Ireland finalists come for their first game in Division 1 with renewed belief following their progress to the final last year. In their preparations all of Mayo’s old failings will have been dwelt on which Martin Clarke, Benny Counter, Danny Hughes and Brendan McVeigh will want to exploit.
How Mayo’s young aspirants perform may begin to shape the county’s season. This is a higher plane than the FBD. It is the litmus test of their survival qualities. Some will do better than others, but what is asked of all is to play with the conviction they have shown in the FBD.
