Forward momentum stalled
KERRY will be flattered somewhat by a victory decided by a controversial goal. They were not a four-points better side than Mayo.
But they went away with full points, and no amount of disapproval of a score that changed the trend of the game will change the result.
Their only period of dominance was the opening quarter when it seemed that their whirlwind start would reap an unreachable score.
In those nervous opening minutes a couple of chances were presented to them which could have made Mayo’s recovery much more difficult than the three points that separated them in twelve minutes.
A timely intervention by goalkeeper Robert Hennelly denied David Geaney a big goal chance, as Mayo struggled to get to grips in the vital positions with the Munster men.
These were anxious moments for Mayo’s new-look side, forced to start without Alan Freeman, Enda Varley and Keith Higgins of the team that drew with Down.
Last minute changes to the selected side in which Chris Barrett and Trevor Howley were replaced by Alan and Richie Feeney may also have added to their early indecisiveness.
When eventually Ronan McGarrity hauled in their first score in the 20th minute, Mayo shook off their stuttering start, put more pressure on the Kerry defence and, most significantly, put a stop to the damaging incursions made by full-back Marc O Sé.
Six minutes after that opening score, Mayo were on level terms with the Kingdom, and by half-time they were still locked together . . . even though Aidan O’Shea had managed to put them in front for the first time . . . before Geaney equalised just before the interval.
Having failed to make most of the dominance they enjoyed in the first quarter, Kerry were expected to benefit from wind advantage in the second half with high ball into Donaghy, Cooper and O’Sullivan.
But if it is ever possible to plant a seed of doubt in Kerry minds, wing-back Kevin McLoughlin surely managed it when he fired over the opening point of the second half, after Tom Cunniffe did a Mark O Sé run from defence.
As in all of their second halves since James Horan took charge, Mayo set the pace after the restart. Alan Feeney dismantled whatever dependence Kerry place on Kieran Donaghy with a competent performance on the big full-forward.
Flanked by brother Richie and Tom Cunniffe, the full-back line confined Cooper to a single point, from a free, Geaney to two points from play, and Donaghy scoreless. Together with Kevin McLoughlin, Peadar Gardiner and Ger Cafferkey, the defence was Mayo’s strongest sector.
It was, therefore, a bit unfortunate that Darran O’Sullivan was allowed slip in from the left wing five minutes from the end before being challenged by goalkeeper Hennelly which led to the penalty . . . a sentence that looked too harsh on the goalkeeper.
Sub Bryan Sheehan, who had left the field with a blood injury, was recalled to take the spot kick. And there and then the game was decided.
At midfield McGarrity and Jason Gibbons more than held their own. But, like Kerry, the forward line of which Andy Moran and Aidan Campbell were best, lacked a cutting edge.
NEXT Sunday Mayo travel to Tuam for the third round, James Horan’s first journey into enemy territory. With only a point gained between them from their last two games, the outcome of this could define the future of each in the division.
Whatever internal problems they are experiencing, Galway will not be deterred from pulling out the stops against Mayo. It has ever been so down the decades between them. Setbacks in either camp can sometimes become a stimulus to dig deep into their funds of pride and honour.
It’s the rivalry factor, the aversion that each holds of conceding defeat to the other. The colour of their respective jerseys is enough to quicken the pulse.
So for whatever reason Kieran Fitzgerald and Niall Coleman were forced to quit camp, or what prevented Nicky Joyce from returning, Galway will not be frightened off. The rudiments of a strong team are still in place, and Mayo would do well to remember that the Tribesmen will be no push over.
Since no two teams Horan has fielded over the past five or six weeks have been the same, Sunday’s is again likely to show a number of changes from that which went down to Kerry last weekend. Keen competition for places is keeping ambition on the boil.
But while there is ample cover for defence and midfield, the front line still lacks the edge that Freeman and Varley had lent it.
Action Plan is ‘can-do’ document
MARK it down as a momentous date in the history of sport in this old county… the outcome of Mayo GAA Board’s soul-searching look at itself.
On Saturday night a five-year Draft Strategic Action Plan was published containing a series of ground-breaking recommendations drawn up by a committed group of 86 talented people at the request of Mayo GAA Board.
It has come in the wake of Mayo’s tame exit to Longford in the championship last season, and the ensuing apathy to which it gave rise. And it lays the foundation for a shake-up in administration and organisation the likes of which has not been undertaken in the history of the association in this county.
The seven key recommendations can be read on other pages. But the one that sustains most of the other six is the proposal to reorganise the finances of the County Board.
It calls for an independent and professional review of the financial status of Mayo GAA for the three-year period 2008-2010… and based on that review that a comprehensive five-year financial plan be drawn up.
In urging the implementation of the plan, Liam Horan, who chaired the 19-person steering committee, stated at the launch of the document that Mayo people had been cast to the four corners of the world “and with absence doing what it does to an already fond heart, those people are perhaps our greatest asset right now our 16th man.
“Let us go about our business so that Mayo people all over the world have a wheel they can put their shoulder to — let’s become the first county to have Mayo Supporters branches in all the major ‘Irish’ cities.
“Let’s walk tall, even on our darkest days. Let’s give the sons and daughters of our expats something they can cling onto: the annual official Mayo GAA scarf, the membership card, the invitation to contribute something as small as 20 euros, dollars or pounds, the something small that will symbolise and unite,” he said.
It’s a stirring document of can-do measures on which the future prosperity of Mayo football can be built. It is how chairman Liam Horan hopes everyone will find it: rich, traditional, bold and unpredictable.
Just a thought …
WHILE the league is never a criterion to measure Kerry’s championship worth, evidence of their performance on Sunday suggests they will struggle to climb back to the summit come summer.
