Mayo learn the hard way
CHARLIE Vernon to Gareth Swift, to Malachy Mackin, to Brian Mallon… BANG. All inside thirty seconds as Armagh hit the ground running. Scarcely had a Mayo hand touched the ball, before it was lodged in the net.
And from that moment Mayo were chasing the game.
To their credit they crept back… to within a point of the Orchard County. But that goal, and Armagh’s sterling defence of it, hung over Mayo like a dark cloud.
In the end it was the score that denied them a share of the spoils… birth pains of James Horan’s emerging Mayo.
Sixteen minutes further into the game, Armagh pounced again, a rocket from Paul Duffy scorching the roof of the net. The influential Steven McDonnell laid on the pass for the wing back, who stormed unchallenged from the right and let fly from thirty yards.
Against a strong wind and rocked by those goals the enormity of the task confronting Mayo was obvious. By the 33rd minute they were already eight points down and struggling to contain Armagh’s constantly interchanging forward line.
The physical power of the northerners seemed to have taken Mayo by surprise. While they lacked nothing in effort, Mayo lost the physical battle against the likes of Ciaran McKeever, Charlie Vernon, Kieran Toner, and even their own Billy Joe Padden, who was listed at centre-forward but played a sweeping role in defence for Armagh.
Vernon was an inspiration at midfield. Big and strong, his thrusts into the Mayo defence especially in the second half against the wind caused a lot of damage.
Once he got into his stride the midfielder was virtually unstoppable. Neither Jason Gibbons nor Tom Parsons are endowed with similar attributes, and even Ronan McGarrity made little impression on the Armagh Harps man when he replaced Parsons in the second half.
That was the big lesson to be drawn from this match. For all their determination and spirit, which they showed in plenty, Mayo cannot compete in the big physical stakes. It’s a disadvantage with which they have to contend… and try to technically counterbalance with their own selection of talents.
Yet in scoring Mayo’s only goal, Jason Doherty seemed to challenge the view that the good big man is better. He gave fair warning to Armagh earlier when he stole along the end line, only to be denied on the edge of the square.
He got a second chance just before the interval when given possession by Kevin McLoughlin. In forcing his way along the end line despite the attention of Andy Mallon, the Burrishoole man by sheer force of will poked the ball into the net from the narrowest of angles. Others could draw from such resolve.
Even though the wind slackened somewhat after the break, the goal injected some hope in fans for the second half… and Armagh’s six-point lead did not appear too intimidating. Within a couple of minutes Doherty and Aidan Campbell had cut the deficit to four.
But the Armagh men battened the hatches and dug in, and it wasn’t long until their halftime lead was restored which they carried into the final quarter.
Slowly, however, Mayo began to emerge from the abyss. Points by Alan Dillon, Andy Moran and Aidan Kilcoyne cut the lead to a single point, the closest they had come.
The revival lasted only long enough to rekindle Armagh’s spirited performance with a couple more points to seal a deserved win.
You could not fault Chris Barrett or Tom Cunniffe or Ger Cafferkey or Richie Feeney or Aidan Campbell, or Andy Moran or Jason Gibbons or Jason Doherty for this defeat. Nor did the others lose heart. It’s just that the squad as a whole has a long way to go.
Next week they travel to Dublin who are riding high on top of the table, and nobody is holding out too much hope that things will be any different afterwards.
With Cork at home and Monaghan away, and Mayo requiring at least three further points from those games, the slide to Division 2 is hastening.
But Mayo will concede nothing. It’s a learning process and there is no quick cure for their ills. Each game tosses up a different weakness and the hope is that Mayo will learn quickly. Who knows?
Dempsey’s men flatter to deceive
THE U-21s bow out rather tamely, their minor promise collapsing like the bubbles blown by kids at the back of the stand on Saturday.
Short several of their regulars, Roscommon were still strong enough and confident enough to sweep aside the challenge, and add another stone to the football edifice they are re-building in Connacht.
Ray Dempsey must have had high hopes of emulating the standard he had set three years ago with a campaign that has come closest yet to bridging the minor gap in Mayo football.
But the vitality of their minor football has not grown with them, and as the likes of Roscommon continue to develop the horizon of underage football in Mayo becomes dimmer and more distant.
Mayo had chances to win this tough argument, and when Darren Coen nosed them in front for the first time five minutes from the end, few in the small attendance would have argued against that view.
But the real measure of their performance can be gauged from the final five minutes when Roscommon stormed back with three magnificent points, and Mayo could draw on nothing to stop them.
Only in a brief eight-minute period when they came from behind had Mayo the reins – Cillian O’Connor cutting the deficit to one, and subs James Cafferty and Coen driving Mayo ahead.
Otherwise they lagged well behind in all but a few of their individual duels, and were it not for a powerful midfield performance by Aidan O’Shea, their defeat would have been much heavier than the two points that finally separated them.
O’Shea’s command was the only bright beam in a generally bleak performance. He alone kept Mayo’s hopes alive, and well deserved the man of the match honour.
But questions remain about a system that fails to cater for the development of young players leaving minor ranks.
Green and Red Trust winners
THE Green & Red Trust will honour four people, who have given distinguished service to their clubs, at their annual dinner in the Downhill Hotel on April 8.
Michael Fitzmaurice (Lacken), Michael Beirne (Charlestown), Patrick Hughes (The Neale) and Toby McWalter (Balla) have been chosen for their selfless work on behalf of their respective clubs down the years.
They are the men who stand in the wings while their players take the bows, the men in the engine room without whom there would be no club.
Each epitomise the club and, thoughtfully, the Green & Red Trust ensures each year that those working behind the scenes are saluted… even if the spotlight is not something they seek.
See page 14 for more details.
