Mayo take road less travelled
Edwin McGreal
So when is a good time to go into the Qualifiers? Never, inter-county managers will insist. But for Galway in 2001, Tyrone in 2005 and Kerry in 2006 the road less travelled led to ultimate glory.
Provincial defeats led to serious appraisals of where two of the three teams stood and they came out of the qualifier system improved sides. Galway discovered Tomás Mannion was an ideal man to fill the troublesome spot at centre-half-back and only last year Kerry unleashed Kieran Donaghy as a full-forward, after provincial failure. Readers don’t need to be reminded of Donaghy’s contribution in last year’s final.
So the qualifier system can be the making of a team. But can it be the making of Mayo? The county’s record to date through the qualifiers has been forgetful.
Mayo have been dumped into the qualifiers four times prior to this year and only twice have they come back out into the All-Ireland final series proper. Both of those times have seen them lose at the quarter-final stage. Both our recent All-Ireland final appearances have been through the front door. The road less travelled has been the road less successful.
Roscommon consigned both Galway and Mayo to the qualifier route in 2001. A Connacht final defeat for Mayo, and the nature of it, conceding an injury-time goal, was tough to take. Sean Rice, writing in The Mayo News, spoke about Mayo ‘resisting underestimation’ ahead of the Westmeath qualifier.
Whether Mayo underestimated Westmeath is hard to ascertain. But, whatever the cause, the effect was that Mayo were dumped out of the championship, losing 1-14 to 0-16.
The following season saw Mayo take the same road, albeit with a little more success. Defending All-Ireland champions Galway dumped them out of Connacht and into round one of the qualifiers. But the Mayo mood afterwards was upbeat.
“We’ll have a good go at the qualifiers,” said Mayo corner-back Gary Ruane. “We can definitely pick up the pieces and go on from here. John O’Mahony (Galway manager) was just in here and he was saying how it was exactly the same for them last year when they lost to Roscommon. But they picked it up from there and that’s a spur to us … when we see how far they went.”
Roscommon were the first obstacle three weeks later and Mayo easily cleared it, winning 0-20 to 2-8. There was little problem focussing Mayo for that game. The next game, against Limerick, was another matter.
Mayo wing-back Noel Connelly wondered aloud if Mayo would let complacency get the better of them. “Mayo, traditionally, have never put teams like Limerick away,” Connelly said in advance of the tie. “Teams that have never come out of their own province and would be regarded as a weaker county. Psychologically, I’d be a little worried because some of the younger lads may take it easier.”
One of those ‘younger lads’, Conor Mortimer, was the centre of the attention after the game with his much publicised ‘jersey throwing’ incident after being subbed. It caused a furore at the time but Mayo, while underperforming, held out, seeing off Limerick on a 0-13 to 1-9 score.
The final round of the qualifiers saw Mayo travel to Ennis to play Tipperary. Declan Browne engaged in a fascinating tussle with Kenneth Mortimer but it was another marquee forward who stole the show.
The roof of the stand in Cusack Park nearly lifted off when the returning Ciarán McDonald was introduced by Pat Holmes and he contributed four points from play as Mayo won a high scoring contest, 0-21 to 1-14.
Cork would halt Mayo’s gallop though, winning quite comfortably in the All-Ireland quarter-final, the final margin of three points being kind to Mayo.
For the third year running, 2003 saw Mayo have to negotiate the qualifiers. Connacht final defeat to Galway sent John Maughan’s team packing but it was expected Fermanagh would provide a soft landing. Instead Mayo got a rude awakening.
Fermanagh won by a point and while Maurice Sheridan became the fall guy after missing a kickable free to level matters; the truth was his kicking had kept Mayo in a game they should have been well beaten in.
The following year saw Mayo return to using the conventional route to success but the qualifiers were required in ‘05 once more. It left Mayo, who had aspirations of success at the start of the year, facing into a tussle with Cavan.
John Maughan’s team didn’t set the world alight but managed to do enough, winning 0-11 to 0-8 to set up an All-Ireland quarter-final with no less than Kerry. It may have been a shot at redemption for them but despite a late comeback, it was Mayo who headed home
