FEATURE
Mike Finnerty
Sports Editor
mikefinnerty@mayonews.ie
JULY 2001. The month that Gerry Lohan’s goal broke Mayo hearts and the year that Dermot Geraghty lifted the Connacht minor championship trophy. After five minor titles in seven years, little did we think that another seven would come and go without a single provincial title. It’s been one hard luck story after another.
When Ray Dempsey’s team go into battle against Roscommon next Sunday, Billy McNicholas will be just one of many interested observers. In his day job as Games Development Administrator for Mayo, McNicholas is responsible for nurturing the next crop of aspiring young county footballers.
His work with Mayo U-14 and U-15 development squads, as well as the Ted Webb Cup (U-16) panels, also means that he is in a unique position to assess the current state of the county’s football affairs. Surely, seven years and counting without a Connacht minor championship win constitutes a crisis?
“There’s no crisis,” McNicholas told The Mayo News last week. “We’re producing fantastic underage footballers and it’s not all about winning Connacht minor championships. It’s about bringing players through to play senior for Mayo.
“If I’m being honest, I think splitting the Ted Webb team in two is the main factor in us not winning a Connacht minor since 2001. Ideally, I’d like to go back to having an A and B team in the competition. If you want to win endless minor titles then I think you have to go back to just one team in the Ted Webb Cup.
“At U-14 level what we’re watching out for is attitude and skill. If the player has size and strength as well then that’s a bonus. There are 70 players in the U-14 squads, that’s cut down to 50 by U-15 and so on. The players are constantly taking part in trials and being evaluated.
“I firmly believe that as long as you’re competitive at minor and producing two or three players each year that will go on to play senior inter-county football for Mayo, then you’re doing a good job. It’s a conveyor belt. It’s all about the senior team and if we can pick up minor or U-21 titles along the way then brilliant.”
McNicholas’ theories were not formed overnight; he’s been involved as a coach with development squads since 1995 and has been employed by the Connacht Council to oversee Mayo’s coaching structures for three years now. He also served under Mayo minor manager Eugene Ivers in 2005 and 2006 and saw first-hand just how fine the margins can be in Connacht finals.
Looking at it from his perspective, you wonder is there enough discussion between the different Mayo managers about where everybody wants to go?
“No,” is his instant reply. “There isn’t enough communication between the different managers and that disappoints me. All the managers at U-16, minor, U-21 and senior need to sit down and discuss what type of players they want, what style of football they want to play. In my opinion, communication is vital and there’s isn’t enough of it being done at club or county level across the country.”
The sharp decline in the standard of secondary schools coaching is another nationwide phenomenon that is having a negative impact on the development of young footballers, according to Billy McNicholas.
Fewer teachers want to train teams outside of school hours and that, in turn, means that many schools end up fulfilling fixtures instead of challenging for honours. It’s a major problem for those who worry about our minors.
“I think there is a crisis in secondary schools football,” he said. “The teachers, in a lot of cases, have lost interest with the likes of Rice College, Westport, St Colman’s, Claremorris and St Gerald’s, Castlebar being the obvious exceptions.
“For example, we held a coaching session for secondary school teachers in Breaffy and invited 24 schools to take part. Five schools turned up.
“I suppose teachers aren’t being compensated for looking after teams, there’s a lot of academic pressure, and a lot of principals just don’t have the interest in promoting Gaelic games. It’s not just a Mayo problem or a Connacht problem, it’s a nationwide issue. If we’re serious about developing footballers then the clubs, schools and coaching officers have to work together.”
We conclude our whistle-stop tour on an upbeat note. Of the Mayo XV that started against Sligo in the Connacht senior semi-final, only one (Ronan McGarrity) didn’t show up on Mayo’s radar at some stage between U-14 and U-21.
Crisis? Well, that depends what you call a crisis.
