PERFECT DAY BOYS Ryan Monaghan from Breaffy and Cathal Freeman from Aghamore, members of the St Jarlath’s football squad, are pictured with the Aonghus Murphy Cup after last Sunday’s Connacht final victory. Pic: Michael McLaughlin
Mayo have nothing to fear
Sean Rice
WE had hoped that Mayo would be immune to relegation by the time Kerry came to visit, that Division 1 status might be secure whatever the outcome of their scrap with the kingdom. One point out of six, however, leaves us wishing they had more durable support before taking on the All-Ireland champions than the thread to which they now cling for survival.
Kerry come as Kerry almost always do — as masters. They have triumphed so often over Mayo that few of the home supporters expect anything other than a Kerry win at McHale Park, especially over a side in the early stages of transition.
You can’t argue with the statistics. The facts are there in black and white. Kerry are the definitive practitioners of Gaelic football and to play against them is the ultimate learning experience.
But Mayo will not take the field on Sunday shaking in their boots. If you were to single out one encouraging facet of their performances in the league so far it is the willingness of this new Mayo to compete. They give all they have freely and fearlessly.
The All-Ireland champions have won two of their three games so far. A goal in the dying seconds by Donegal denied them an opening victory in much the same way as Mayo were denied in injury time - by the same county. They have beaten Derry, Mayo¹s initial conquerors, and Tyrone.
No doubt, Kerry will be expecting to win. In recent times they have shown a determination to capture the league that had not been apparent previously. It was said they once looked upon the league as nothing more serious than a work out, a limbering up process for the tougher confrontations of the championship, that their heart was not always in it.
For all that, they have won more league titles than any other county, and are the current holders of the trophy. Serious challenges to their eminence forced them to pay more attention to the league and while up to the seventies Mayo had led the title charts, Kerry have since surpassed them and are now unrivalled in both national competitions.
The biggest threat to Mayo on Sunday comes from their giant sized full-forward Kieran Donaghy. We do not have a man capable of outreaching him in the air . . . even tall enough to fist the ball away. Having suffered from his menacing power in the All-Ireland final two years ago, Mayo know what to expect.
Management is likely to persist in their selection of Billy Joe Padden at full-back, their faith in him undiminished by his performance against Laois. John O’Mahony is not one to be deterred by one eclipse. Billy Joe, he knows, will have learned from his experience against Brendan Quigley, and may be better prepared to deal with the threat that Donaghy poses. Hopefully, the confidence he showed against Donegal will not have deserted the Belmullet man.
Not a lot of support can be expected from his colleagues who have their own crucible to contend with against the likes of Paul O’Connor, Darren and Sean O’Sullivan, Bryan Sheehan and a host of other fringe forwards from a bottomless well of quality serving their apprenticeship, all of them convinced of their own invincibility. It’s a big test for a team in transition and still lacking the services of a couple of big men, but it is not a hopeless cause.
Although he is far from peak fitness, the selectors are likely to ask Ronan McGarrity for a full seventy minutes at midfield, because of the crucial role he played in Mayo’s draw with Laois.
That performance underlined the consequences of his absence from the other games. But the selectors are still undecided on the most suitable partner for the Ballina man. James Gill, Seamus O’Shea and Tom Parsons are competing for selection, none yet having won the full confidence of the mentors.
Hopefully, Alan Dillon will also have recovered from the leg injury that forced his retirement early in the first half of their last outing. In that event, Trevor Mortimer may be installed on the wing in place of the injured Michael Mullins. Keith Higgins will be expected to have fully recovered from flu. And Austin O’Malley’s performance against Laois sprouts new hope for a permanent place for one skilled in both feet . . . a dying breed of footballer.
Even against the cream of the crop the selectors will confine changes to the minimum. Win or lose, they have been clinical in their determination to give each one a fair chance to stake a claim on the side that will serve in the championship.
Kerry may win on Sunday. They will not want to be caught off guard as happened in their last league meeting with Mayo. Above any team they have physical strength and tradition on their side. But the result is not a foregone conclusion. Mayo fervour of recent outings, and a little more composure in front of goal, could upset the odds.
Gone, but not forgotten
THIS corner is for Carmel. She lived in Newbridge, Co Kildare, longer than she had done in her native county. But her heart was with Mayo on All-Ireland final day. She was a pillar of hope and optimism.
‘Sure there’ll be another day,’ she would remark when, once more, crestfallen, we had trudged out the gates of Croke Park.
For her there was no other day. We buried her in the town of her adoption last week, and a little piece of the Green and Red slipped with her into her Kildare grave. We live on, for however long, uplifted by the hope that she had never relinquished for the footballers of her native Mayo.
Colleges final fails to inspire
TWO young men stood out in an otherwise drab Connacht Colleges final at Ballinrobe on Sunday. Shane Nally at centre-half back was superb for St Colman’s, and Danny Cummins the inspiration of St Jarlath’s 46th title.
Both are gifted with contrasting styles: Nally, son of John, and bred from Garrymore granite, was the driving force of St Colman’s brave bid for a third Connacht title; Cummins, crafty and composed, grandson of one of Down’s great heroes of All-Ireland fame, Patsy O’Hagan, was the man who denied Nally.
I don’t think we have heard the last of either of those two young men. They have the potential to represent their respective counties and hopefully the promise they showed on Sunday will continue to ripen in the years ahead.
The performance of each were the only noteworthy features of a game that failed to live up to the standard we have come to expect from college senior finals.
The huge attendance came with similar expectations, but even the din normally associated with college crowds was more muted, reflecting it seemed the uninspiring nature of the exchanges.
St Jarlath’s were clear favourites, and consequently complacent perhaps. There was no fire in their performance in the opening half. Most of the good football came from Colman’s as they battled against the wind . . . and against the sense of inferiority that surrounded them.
That soon faded as they traded skills with their more famed opponents, and were not found wanting. Nally showed the way, and his flankers Sean Prendergast and Shane Walsh did everything that could be asked of a half-back line to fashion a famous victory. They came close.
